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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 




One by one, taking hold of the bushes, they pulled themselves up 

the steep bank. 

Frontispiece. See pat/c 13. 



Pioneers of America 



By 



ALBERT F. BLAISDELL 



11 

AND 



FRANCIS K. BALL 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY 

FRANK T. MERRILL 



NON-kEFt^RT 




tf VMVAD • Q3S 



Boston 

Little, Brown, and Company 

1919 



.-563 



Copyright, 1919, 
By Little, Brown, and Company. 



AU rights reserved 



PubUshed, October, 1919 



I^Ulf I I 1919 



)CI.A536501 



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r I 






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^ 



PREFACE 

This book is intended to be a supplemen- 
tary reader on American history, for use in 
the fourth and fifth grades of our pubhc 
schools, and for boys and girls from ten to fif- 
teen years of age. It is also intended for col- 
lateral reading in connection with one or more 
of the elementary textbooks on American his- 
tory, and may be used with the three other 
books of similar grade in this series, namely, 
'^The American History Story-book," ''The 
Childs' Book of American History," and 
"Heroic Deeds of American Sailors." 

It is a good thing for American boys and 
girls, and for all Americans, to keep in mind 
the daring deeds, acts of heroism, and thril- 
ling adventures of the pioneers of America. 
To this intent the authors have rewritten or 
adapted from trustworthy sources a few of the, 
more dramatic and picturesque events in the 



VI PREFACE 

winning of the West. As in other books of 
this series, they have used freely such personal 
anecdotes and incidents as thrill the reader 
because of their human interest and their por- 
trayal of the dramatic and picturesque life of 
our forefathers. 

It is the hope and expectation of the 
authors that this book may serve as one 
of the smaller foundation stones on which 
young people may build in due time a more 
extended and formal course in American 
history. 

Albert F. Blaisdell. 

Francis K. Ball. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface . v 

CHAPTER 

I. The Backwoodsmen . ...... 1 

II. The Capture of Quebec 5 

III. Joe Miller Saves the Fort 16 

IV. Daniel Boone 22 

V. Pontiac is Outwitted 30 

VI. The Massacre at Mackinaw 39 

VII. Raising the Stars and Stripes .... 46 

VIII. On the Frontier in Vermont .... 54 

IX. Elizabeth Zane 60 

X. The Hero of the Northwest 68 

XI. Simon EIenton 79 

XII. The Women Save Bryan's Station ... 86 

XIII. Moving to the Frontier 93 

XIV. Brady's Leap for Life 101 

XV. Over the Wilderness Road 107 

XVI. Everyday Life in the Wilderness . . .115 

XVII. Brave Polly Hopkins 124 

XVIII. Fighting the Indians 132 

XIX. Lincoln's Boyhood on the Frontier . . . 142 

Pronunciation of Proper Names . '. . 153 



VU 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



One by one, taking hold of the bushes, they 

pulled themselves up the steep bank . . Frontispiece 
Rebecca Bryan stepped out from her hiding 

place Page 23 " 

The old soldier had himself propped against a 

big tree " 50 ' 

"Take up that little fellow on your shoulder," 

shouted Clark .... . . "75 

He jumped into the deep water and hid himself 

behind the trunk of a big chestnut tree . " 105 ^ 

An older brother raised his rifle and shot the 

Indian " Ul^ 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 



THE BACKWOODSMEN 

THE stories in this book are about 
the pioneers and backwoodsmen of 
America. Do you know where the 
backwoodsmen Hved? Do you know who 
they were? Do you know what they did for 
our country? 

Take your geography and look at the map 
of the United States. Do you see the moun- 
tains in the eastern part? They run from 
Pennsylvania through Maryland, Virginia, 
and the Carohnas into Georgia. 

In the early days of our country all this 
land was covered with dense forests. These 
mountains were like a great wall, which made 
it difficult to go from the east to the west 

1 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

except by following the valleys. Daniel 
Boone's father took his large family and went 
from Pennsylvania five hundred miles down 
one of the great valleys, and settled in the 
western part of North CaroUna. 

At the foot of these mountains, on the hill- 
sides and along the valleys, lived those early 
settlers who were called the backwoodsmen. 
They differed from the people who Hved in 
the lowlands along the Atlantic Ocean. Some 
of the backwoodsmen were English, but 
most of them were Scotch and Irish. 

About the time that George Washington was 
born, these Scotch-Irish people came to Amer- 
ica in great numbers. They landed in the 
north at Philadelphia, and in the south at 
Charleston, in South Carolina. They were 
strong and brave men. Armed with rifle 
and ax, they crossed the lowlands and pushed 
their way into the wilderness, to make homes 
for themselves along the mountains. 

Life in the wilderness was full of hardship 
and danger, on account of the wild beasts and 

2 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

the Indians. But these sturdy settlers were 
not afraid. They built log cabins to live in. 
They cut down the trees and cleared the land 
for the planting of corn. They built log 
churches and log schoolhouses. Before many 
years had passed away, they had become 
Americans in their dress and ways of living. 
They were stanch patriots. 

After a while hunters and fur traders began 
to go deeper and deeper into the wilderness. 
Sometimes they came back with stories about 
the rich land and the wonderful scenery far 
to the west. 

It was not long before a terrible war broke 
out between the settlers in Virginia and the 
Shawnee Indians. The hunters and fur trad- 
ers were driven out of the western country. 
The Shawnees were led by the fierce and 
cruel chief Cornstalk, and by the famous 
chief Logan. But after a time they were 
defeated in one of the hardest battles ever 
fought with the redskins. 

After the defeat of the Indians the back- 

3 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

woodsmen went still farther into the west. 
James Robertson settled in the middle of 
what is now Tennessee. George Rogers Clark 
took from the EngUsh the great region north 
of the Ohio River. Daniel Boone began the 
first real settlement in Kentucky. 



II 

THE CAPTURE OF QUEBEC 

MORE than seventy years before 
Captain John Smith came to 
Virginia, a French explorer crossed 
the ocean and sailed up a river to which he 
gave the name Saint Lawrence. He took 
possession of the land in the name of France. 
After many years another French explorer, 
named Champlain, sailed up the Saint Law- 
rence River to the spot where Quebec now 
stands. He made a settlement and became 
the founder of the French empire in Canada. 

Champlain was a noble and brave man, and 
one of the most famous Frenchmen of his time. 
He explored the northeastern part of our 
country, and gave names to many places. 
He discovered Lake Champlain, which was 
named after him. He discovered Lake On- 

5 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

tario and Lake Huron also. He was governor 
of the colony of Canada many years. He was 
called the Father of New France. 

At this time French missionaries came to 
teach the Indians. These missionaries were 
noble men too. They and the fur traders 
went farther and farther to the west, into the 
dense wilderness. 

The most famous of all the French explorers 
was La Salle. His hfe was filled with adven- 
tures and hardships. He built forts, traded 
with the Indians, and went into the wilder- 
ness where no white man had ever been before. 

He sailed down the Mississippi River to the 
Gulf of Mexico. He claimed for France the 
land drained by the Mississippi River and by 
the rivers flowing into the Mississippi. This 
meant all the land between the Alleghenies 
and the Rocky Mountains. 

To this vast region he gave the name of 
Louisiana, in honor of his king, Louis the 
Fourteenth. The narrow strip of land held 
by the English along the Atlantic coast was a 

6 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

small settlement compared with the great 
territory of Louisiana. 

Now began a long and hard struggle between 
Prance and England for the possession of 
America. If the French won, the land would 
belong to France. The people and language 
and customs would be French. If the English 
won, all these things would be Enghsh. 

The struggle went on for seventy-five years. 
There were many fierce and bloody fights, in 
which the Indians took part. The English 
lost their battles at first, and then they began 
to win. But the French still held the great 
fort of Quebec. 

Quebec was perched on a cliff two hundred 
feet high. It was one of the strongest for- 
tresses in the world. For nine miles above the 
city, and for eight miles below, there were Unes 
of batteries on the steep banks of the Saint 
Lawrence. Thus Quebec, rising above the 
mighty river, stood hke a giant sentinel at the 
gateway to Canada and the lands of the far 
west. 

7 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

"li the French hold Quebec, we can never 
conquer Canada," said a great English states- 
man to the king. "We must capture Quebec. 
I know of one man who can do it, if anybody 
can. That man is General James Wolfe." 

''That young general is crazy," exclaimed 
one of the noblemen. 

' ' Mad, is he? ' ' answered the old king ; ' ' then 
I hope he will bite some others of my generals." 

Wolfe was chosen to lead the expedition to 
America. He knew what he was expected to 
do. He was to end the rule of France over 
America, and to raise the flag of Great Britain 
over Canada. 
With his fleet and army he sailed up the 
Saint Lawrence River and landed on an island 
nearly opposite Quebec. He gazed at the city 
perched on the bluff. In full view below he 
saw the far-extended camps of the French. 
The steep banks of the river were covered with 
earthworks. 

Above the city the river was walled in by a 
range of steep hills. A few men on the top of 

8 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

those heights could easily defend the great 
fortress. General Montcalm, who was in 
command of Quebec, was one of the best 
soldiers of his time. He had an army of six- 
teen thousand men. 

General Montcalm believed that the fortress 
was safe. ''The English cannot land within 
ten miles of the city," he said. ''Their pro- 
visions will soon be gone, and then they will 
have to go home. In a few weeks winter will 
be here, and their warships will be frozen up 
in the river." 

The French general, however, was not idle. 
He filled old ships with tar and all kinds of 
things that would burn easily, and one dark 
night set them afire and floated them down the 
river among the English fleet. 

The vessels sent up sheets of flame, which 
Ughted the city and the long red line of the 
English army. English sailors sprang into 
their boats, threw their grappling irons on the 
burning ships, and towed them to the shore, 
where they burned till sunrise, 

9 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Meanwhile Wolfe had been making his 
plans. A few miles up the Saint Lawrence 
was a broad, level field, called the Plains of 
Abraham. On this plain there was room 
enough to draw up an army. At this place 
the bank of the river was high and steep, 
but the brave English general planned to 
climb to the field above and storm the 
fortress. 

'^ I have found a zigzag trail that leads to the 
Plains of Abraham," he said to the Enghsh 
admiral. ''I will take one hundred and fifty 
picked men who can cUmb the steep bank. 
If they do it, other men can follow." 

Most of the time Wolfe was sick in bed. His 
only fear was that he might not be well enough 
to lead his troops. 

"You cannot cure me," he said to his doctor, 
''but patch me up so that I may be without 
pain for a few days and able to do my duty. 
That is all I ask." 

He first tried to mislead the French. He 
sent his troops here and there along the shore 

10 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

as if to attack the city. He sent his warships 
up the river with the flood tide, and had them 
come back with the ebb. 

The French followed the ships to and fro 
until they were tired out. 

^'They mean to land somewhere/' wrote the 
French general. ''Surely no army would try 
to climb the steep banks near the city. I 
swear to you that one thousand men posted 
there would stop a whole army. We must 
not suppose the enemy have wings. I have 
not taken off my clothes since the twenty- 
third of June." 

At last Wolfe was ready for action. It was 
two o'clock on the night of the twelfth of 
September. Lanterns were raised on board a 
warship. Boats loaded with picked troops 
started down the Saint Lawrence with 
the current. Other troops were soon to 
follow. 

General Wolfe, with some of his officers, was 
in one of the first boats. As they drifted in 
the silence of the night down the river, he re- 

11 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

peated in a low voice some lines from Gray's 
''Elegy in a Country Churchyard": 

"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave, 
Awaits ahke th' inevitable hour : 
The paths of glory lead but to the grave." 

''Gentlemen," he added, "I had rather be 
the author of that poem than have the glory 
of taking Quebec." 

The boats drifted in near the shore. 

The stillness was broken by the cry of a 
French sentinel. "Who goes there?" 

"France," replied a Scotch officer who could 
speak French. 

"What is your regiment?" 

"The Queen's." 

The sentinel, who was expecting some boats 
with supplies, did not ask for the password. 

"Who goes there?" called another sentinel. 

"Provision boats," answered the same of- 
ficer. "Don't make a noise; the English will 
hear you." 

The sentry let them pass. 

12 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

The boats reached a Uttle bay, now known 
as Wolfe's Cove. Twenty-four men, with 
their guns slung on their backs, led the way. 
One by one, taking hold of the bushes, they 
pulled themselves up the steep bank. Feeble 
as he was, Wolfe dragged himself up with the 
rest. 

At daybreak the French were astonished to 
see the long Unes of redcoats on the Plains 
of Abraham. It was a critical hour for 
France. 

Wolfe put himself at the head of his grena- 
diers and gave the order to charge. A bullet 
hit him in the arm, but he pressed forward. 
Another bullet struck him. He still kept on. 
A third bullet pierced his breast. He would 
have fallen, but was caught in the arms of an 
officer. 

"Support me," he cried; ''do not let my 
brave fellows see me fall." 

They carried him to the rear. 

''Will you have a surgeon?" asked an 
officer. 

13 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

"There is no need; it is all over with me." 

A moment later another officer cried, "They 
run, they run; see how they run." 

"Who run?" asked the dying general. 

"The French, sir. They give way every- 
where." 

"Now, God be praised, I die in peace." 

Montcalm also was borne from the field 
mortally wounded. 

" How long have I to live? " asked the gallant 
general. 

"Twelve hours, or less." 

"Thank God, I shall not Uve to see Quebec 
surrendered." 

The fight at Quebec took place in the year 
1759. It was not a great battle, but it was of 
great importance. By the fall of this strong- 
hold France lost all her lands in the New 
World. "With the triumph of Wolfe on the 
Heights of Abraham," says the historian John 
Fiske, "began the history of the United 
States." 

To-day, in the city of Quebec, stands a 

14 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

single monument to the memory of the two 
noble generals who fought for the possession 
of the great fortress. The monument bears 
a beautiful inscription in Latin, which may 
be translated as follows: 

VALOR GAVE THEM A COMMON DEATH 

HISTORY A COMMON FAME 

POSTERITY A COMMON MONUMENT 

WOLFE MONTCALM 



15 



Ill 

JOE MILLER SAVES THE FORT 

SEVERAL years before the battle of 
Quebec a number of settlers built their 
log cabins and made their homes in the 
backwoods of Pennsylvania. They were look- 
ing forward to a time of peace between the 
EngUsh and the French, when they heard that 
General Braddock and his EngUsh troops were 
defeated. The Indians could now attack all 
the frontier settlements. 

The settlers in western Pennsylvania went 
to work in great haste and built a log fort. 
The women and children stayed in the fort for 
safety. Among the settlers were a Mrs. Miller 
and her son Joseph, a lad of sixteen. Mr. 
Miller had started on horseback for Philadel- 
phia to get help. 

It was a hard time for the people crowded 

16 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

into the fort. They did not know at what 
minute the Indians might make an attack. 
They did not dare to go back to their cabins or 
to gather their crops. They must keep a sharp 
watch night and day. 

At last they became tired out. They had 
seen no signs of Indians, and they did not keep 
such a strict watch. It was now early fall, 
but the weather was still warm and sometimes 
hot. On hot days they left the big oak gate 
of the fort open. Sometimes they ventured to 
go outside into the woods, to get a breath of 
fresh air. 

One morning in October Joe Miller looked 
out of one of the windows, and saw that the 
leaves of the trees had bright colors. 

"This is getting too dull for me," he said to 
his mother. "The frost must have opened the 
chestnut burrs. I want to go after some 
chestnuts this very day. I am just crazy to 
have some." 

"Be careful, Joseph, my boy; the Indians 
may be hiding in the woods." 

17 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

"I will be careful, mother. I won't go far 
away. I shall get back before dark." 

He took an empty powder bag, stuffed it 
into his pocket, and slipped out of the gate of 
the stockade. He went up through the deep 
valley behind the fort, cUmbed the hill, and 
went into the woods. 

He found plenty of chestnuts and soon had 
the bag filled. He then sat down under one of 
the big trees and ate some of the nuts. 

''I must be four or five miles from the fort. 
I had better go back. Mother will worry if I 
am late." 

Never did the woods seem so full of game as 
on that bright day in October. The quail 
fluttered out of the underbrush, and the deer 
came down to the brooks to drink. 

''Oh, I wish I could get just one shot at a 
deer. But it will never do. Some Indian 
might get a shot at me." 

He started back home. 

Quick as a flash, and with a fierce yell, an 
Indian leaped out of the underbrush. 

18 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

The boy broke his gun over the head of the 
savage and started to run. The Indian fell to 
the ground. The lad ran like a deer, with 
half a dozen other Indians after him. Several 
musket shots rang out. One bullet grazed 
the boy's ear, another whizzed through his 
fur cap. Of course he was scared. But he 
did not lose his wits. 

''These Indians belong to a larger party," 
he said to himself. ''They are on their way to 
surprise the fort. I must get there first and 
let the people know." 

He ran faster than before. The yells of the 
redskins slowly grew fainter. 

" They will never give up the chase. They'll 
follow my trail to the fort." 

All this time he was running away from the 
fort. The Miller cabin was about a mile up 
the river. 

"I hope I can hold out long enough to reach 
our cabin. Father left my canoe hid in the 
bushes near the river. It is so much easier and 
shorter to paddle down the river than to tramp 

19 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

through the underbrush. If the Indians have 
not stolen my canoe, I am all right." 

Over rocks and fallen trees, across the 
brooks, he ran until he was out of breath. At 
last he saw the glimmer of the river. Safe 
under the bushes he found his canoe just as he 
had left it several weeks before. 

''I'm all right now," he thought. He 
dragged the canoe down the bank and pushed 
it out into the water. He leaped in and 
paddled for the middle of the river. There 
was not a moment to spare. The frail boat 
was just getting into the current, when a 
number of savages came running to the 
bank. 

Bing! bing! blazed their guns. The bullets 
whizzed near the canoe. One bullet struck 
the side of the boat. Another hit a paddle. 

''Well, well," said Joe, "this is getting rather 
too warm. Let me see if I can't fool them." 

With a cry of pain he fell back into the 
bottom of the canoe as if he were hit. The 
Indians thought they had killed him and 

20 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

stopped shooting. He did not dare to get 
up. He lay on his back, glad to get a rest. 

After a time he slowly raised himself and 
looked toward the shore. The Indians were 
not in sight. Up he got and began to paddle 
with all his might down the river. In a short 
time he reached the fort and ran in to tell the 
story. 

Just before sunset a band of Indians came 
out of the woods to attack the fort. The big 
oak gate was shut. Every man and boy was 
at his place ready to defend the stockade. 
The Indians fired a few shots, yelUng hke 
fiends. Then they turned and ran into the 
deep woods. 

''Too bad, Joseph, that you lost your gun 
and your chestnuts," said his mother; ''but 
your quick wit and grit have saved the fort. 
Your father will be proud of you when he hears 
the story.' 



)y 



21 



IV 

DANIEL BOONE 

DANIEL BOONE was the most famous 
of the backwoodsmen. He was a hunter 
from the tune he was old enough to 
hold a gun. One day he went into the woods 
and did not return. Friends and neighbors 
turned out to look for him. After several days 
they found the youngster far away in a rude 
camp, roasting a piece of meat. His father 
thought he was too young to live in the woods 
by himself and made him go home. 

Many books have been written about the 
life and adventures of this famous man. 
Boone himself wrote his own life in the quaint 
and crude style of his time. There are many 
good stories told about him. Most of them 
are true. 

Daniel Boone was born in a frontier settle- 

22 




Rebecca Bryan stepped out from her hiding place. 
Page 23. 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

merit in Pennsylvania. When he was seven- 
teen years old, the family moved to a farm five 
hundred miles away, in the backwoods of 
North CaroHna. Daniel did not Uke to work 
on the farm, but soon became known as the 
best hunter in that wild country. 

One night, while hunting by torchlight, 
he spied a pair of eyes gazing at him 
from the bushes. They seemed to be the 
shining eyes of a deer. He raised his gun to 
shoot. 

" Don't shoot," screamed a voice, and pretty 
Rebecca Bryan, a daughter of a neighbor, 
stepped out from her hiding place. 

''What are you doing here?" he asked. 

"Watching for you." 

Daniel fell in love with this rosy-cheeked, 
bright-eyed girl and married her. 

Daniel Boone tramped across the mountains 
and hunted in what is now the eastern part of 
Tennessee. This region was a great wilder- 
ness, full of wild animals and savage Indians. 
On one of his trips the young hunter killed a 

23 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

bear and cut the following words in the bark 
of a big beech tree: 

D. BOONE CILLED A BAR ON TREE IN THE YEAR 

1760. 

Until a few years ago this tree was still 
standing, on the bank of Boone's Creek, in 
eastern Tennessee. The writing shows that 
the young hunter could not spell very well. He 
says in his book that he could write only a 
sensible but badly spelled letter. 

Boone always Hked to outwit the Indians. 
One day he was up in a shed where he had 
tobacco drying. He looked down and saw 
four Indians with their rifles aimed at 
him. 

"Now, Boone," cried one of the Indians, 
"we have you this time. Come with us." 

"All right," answered Boone; "but wait a 
moment until I get you some of this tobacco." 

He gathered an armful of the dry tobacco, 
and leaping down among the Indians, shook 
the dusty leaves in their faces. While the 
half-blinded and half-choked savages were 

24 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

dancing about in their distress, he escaped to 
his house. 

After a time Daniel Boone blazed a trail into 
the wilderness of Kentucky, and began to settle 
that country. He built a fort on the Kentucky 
River and named it Boonesborough. 

Late one Sunday afternoon three girls care- 
lessly paddled across the river in a canoe. 
These girls were Betsey Callaway, about seven- 
teen years old, her sister Frances, and Jemima 
Boone, the daughter of Daniel Boone. 

The trees and underbrush on the opposite 
bank were thick and came down to the edge of 
the water. 

The girls were playing and splashing with 
their paddles and let the canoe drift near the 
shore. 

Five Indians lay hid in the underbrush. 
One of them took hold of the rope hanging 
from the bow of the canoe and pulled the boat 
close to the bank, so that it could not be seen 
from the stockade. 

The savages took the girls and carried them 

25 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

screaming into the woods. The screams were 
heard at the fort, but it was too late to rescue 
the girls. There was no other boat to cross 
the river. Besides, there might be a large 
band of redskins in the woods. 

The fathers of the girls, Boone and Calla- 
way, were not at the fort, but came home in 
the evening. It was dark before any plan 
could be made to follow the trail of the Indians. 
There was Uttle sleep in the fort that night. 

At sunrise Boone called for help to go in 
pursuit of the redskins. Every man in the 
fort was ready. But Boone picked out only 
seven men, including the lovers of the three 
girls. 

The Indians had already started for their 
village. The two younger girls, Frances and 
Jemima, were downhearted. 

''These Shawnees will surely kill us," cried 
Frances Callaway. 

''Keep up your grit, Frances," replied her 
older sister; "father and Daniel Boone wiU 
surely rescue us." 

26 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

The savages knew well enough that the two 
old Indian fighters would soon be after them. 
So they took great pains to hide their trail. 
They made their captives walk apart and 
wade up and down the Uttle brooks. 

Betsey Callaway was a true pioneer girl. 
She broke off twigs from the bushes and even 
dropped tiny strips of her dress. She did not 
stop doing so even when one of the savages 
threatened to kill her. 

All the first day and the greater part of two 
nights Boone and his riflemen followed the 
trail hke bloodhounds. Early on the third 
day they found the Indians cooking their 
breakfast. 

If the savages had known that the white men 
were close on their trail, they would have 
tomahawked their captives. 

Boone now showed his skill as a backwoods- 
man. With young Henderson, the son of his 
old friend, he crawled up as near the camp 
as he dared. Four of the riflemen then began 
to fire at the savages. Boone and his friend 

27 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

ran between the girls and the camp. Each 
of them shot an Indian as he ran. The three 
remaining savages dashed into the woods, 
leaving their tomahawks, guns, and scalping 
knives. The girls were not harmed. 

The woods were dense, and the men were so 
glad to get the girls back again that they let 
the Indians go. 

Of course there was great rejoicing at 
Boonesborough when the rescuers and the 
girls reached the stockade. 

Three weeks later there was a wedding in 
that distant settlement. Young Mr. Hender- 
son married Betsey Callaway. Squire Boone, 
Daniel Boone's brother, performed the cere- 
mony. This is said to have been the first 
wedding that ever took place in Kentucky. 

A few years later Frances Callaway and 
Jemima Boone got married too. Jemima 
married young Flanders Callaway, the son of 
her father's old friend. 

Afterwards the great pioneer of Kentucky 
went to live in the wilderness of Missouri, 

28 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

which at that time belonged to Spain. The 
last years of his life he spent there with his son- 
in-law, Flanders Callaway. His long life had 
been one of constant danger and hardship in 
the service of his country. 



29 



V 

PONTIAC IS OUTWITTED 

THE long war between England and 
France was at last over. The English 
had taken Quebec and thus got posses- 
sion of Canada and the other French lands in 
America. One of the distant and important 
outposts in Canada was Detroit, on the De- 
troit River. A high pahsade inclosed about 
a hundred log cabins. The garrison was 
made up of a hundred and twenty EngHsh 
soldiers and forty or more fur traders. 

Within sight of the fort, just across the 
river, were the wigwams of three tribes of 
Indians. Pontiac, the great Indian chief, 
ruled these three tribes. This famous Ot- 
tawa chief, a cruel and crafty savage, was 
known far and wide for his bravery as a war- 
rior and his skill as an orator. 

30 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

During the long war the Indians had fought 
on the side of the French. They now had 
nobody to help them, and they thought the 
English would drive them from their hunting 
grounds. 

The crafty chief, Pontiac, wished to take 
revenge on the EngUsh. He began a plot to 
destroy all the settlements on the Western 
frontier. For many months he had been send- 
ing messengers through the deep woods to all 
the Indian tribes, from Canada and the Great 
Lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi River. 

The words of the wily chief had stirred the 
savages as never before, and they made ready 
to obey him. The sullen boom of the Indian 
drums and the wild chorus of their war songs 
were heard in a hundred villages, where the 
warriors danced their war dances round their 
camp fires. The war was to begin on the 
sixth day of May, 1763. Pontiac himself was 
to strike the first blow by destroying the fort 
at Detroit. 

On the morning of the fifth of May the wife 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

of a Canadian settler called at the fort to see 
Major Gladwyn, who was in command. 

''I rowed across the river early this morn- 
ing to buy some maple sugar," she said. "I 
saw some of the Indians cutting off the ends 
of their gun barrels. My husband says the 
redskins are up to some mischief. The black- 
smith thinks so too, for they tried all last week 
to borrow his files and saws." 

Major Gladwyn did not seem to be alarmed. 
He had often fought against the savages and 
had faith in his soldiers. 

The settler's wife had hardly left the fort, 
when an old fur trader came in and begged 
Gladwyn to be on his guard. 

In one of the Indian villages across the river 
lived a beautiful jib way girl who loved 
Major Gladwyn. On the afternoon of this 
same day she came to the fort to bring him a 
pair of moccasins. 

The girl was sad and downcast. She soon 
left the room, but waited at the door. 

''Why are you so sad, Catherine? What 

32 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

is the matter, my good girl?" asked the 
guard. 

She would make no reply, but still did not 
go away. 

''You must go home, Catherine," said a 
young officer. "It is almost time to shut the 
gate for the night." 

Still the girl would not go. 

The officer reported to his commander that 
something was wrong. 

"Send the girl to me at once," said Major 
Gladwyn. 

She returned to his room. 

"Catherine, will you not tell me why you 
are sad? You have a secret. Tell it to me." 

She only shook her head. 

"Tell me the truth, Catherine," said the 
major. "Are the Indians getting ready to 
do us harm? Tell me. I will never betray 
your secret." 

The Indian girl could no longer resist his 
coaxing. 

To-morrow morning," she said, "Pontiac 

33 



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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

and sixty of his chiefs are coming to the fort to 
ask for a council. Each will be armed with 
a gun cut short and hid under his blanket. 
Pontiac will make a speech. He will then 
offer you a peace belt of wampum. As he 
gives it to you, he will reverse it. This will 
be the signal. The chiefs will spring up and 
kill you and the officers. The Indians outside 
will kill and scalp the fur traders and soldiers. 
Every Enghshman is to be put to death." 

Without a moment's delay Major Gladwyn 
began his preparations. There was Uttle 
sleep for anybody. 

Through the night came the wild chorus of 
Indian yeUs and the boom of Indian drums as 
Pontiac and his chiefs stirred the warriors to 
carry out his fiendish plans. 

Early the next morning the open space be- 
hind the fort was filled with hundreds of war- 
riors, squaws, and children, making ready to 
play baU. Tall warriors wrapped in their 
blankets stalked slowly to the big gate of the 
fort and were allowed to enter. 

34 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Every British regular in the garrison was 
under arms. The fur traders stood armed in 
the narrow streets. 

In the middle of the forenoon Pontiac and 
his sixty chiefs were seen crossing the river in 
a fleet of canoes. They were wrapped to their 
chins in bright-colored blankets. Some had 
shaved their heads, leaving only the scalp 
locks on top. Others let their long black hair 
hang over their foreheads like a hon's mane. 
Their faces were daubed with paint. 

When Pontiac stalked through the gate of 
the fort, he uttered a low cry of surprise. 
Within the gateway, on each side, two rows 
of British regulars were drawn up to receive 
him. At the corners of the streets stood the 
fur traders armed to the teeth. The tap of 
the drum was heard as Pontiac and his chiefs 
strode silently to the council house. 

Major Gladwyn and his officers were waiting 
for them. Every man was in full uniform, 
with a pair of pistols at his belt and a sword at 
his side. With uneasy glances the crafty 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

chiefs eyed each other. After some delay they 
sat down on the mats made ready for them. 

It was a thrilUng sight. The sullen Pontiac 
stood proudly erect, holding in his hand a belt 
of wampum. The silence was so deep that the 
breathing of the British officers could be heard. 

Major Gladwyn kept his eyes fixed on the 
wampum. The signal for the death struggle 
might be given at any moment. 

Pontiac began his speech. With smooth and 
flattering words he told Major Gladwyn how 
much he and his people loved the EngUsh. 
He had come now to smoke the pipe of peace, 
and show his love for his English brothers. 

When he came to the end of his speech, he 
glanced uneasily at his chiefs. In another 
moment he began to raise the belt. 

Gladwyn made a shght motion with his 
hand. 

The next moment the click of muskets and 
the long roll of drums filled the council room 
and echoed through the narrow streets. 

The baffled chieftain stood as if stunned. 

36 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

He was now sure that his plot had been dis- 
covered. After a moment he sat down. 

Major Gladwyn was too prudent a soldier 
to run into danger. Within gunshot were a 
thousand painted savages eager to fight for 
their chief. With soft words he told Pontiac 
that he would be a friend to the Indians as long 
as they deserved it. 

The council now broke up. The gates of 
the fort were opened. Pontiac and his chiefs 
sullenly stalked out and returned to their 
wigwams across the river. 

Early the next day Pontiac came again to 
the fort, with three of his chiefs. He held in 
his hands the sacred pipe of peace. 

Evil birds," he said to Major Gladwyn, 
have sung lies in your ears. We love the 
English as our brothers. We have come to 
smoke the pipe of peace." 

Again the crafty chieftain was allowed to 
return to his people. 

Within the next two days Pontiac's War, as 
it is called, broke out, and spread in all its 

37 



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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

fury along the Western frontier. Many cruel 
and bloody deeds were done. For more than 
a year Pontiac used every means to capture 
the fort at Detroit, but only met with 
failure. 



38 



VI 

THE MASSACRE AT MACKINAW 

FAR away in the wilderness north of De- 
troit were three frontier forts. The 
largest of these was Fort Mackinaw. 
There were thirty famihes inside the stockade 
and as many more outside. 

Fort Mackinaw was the chief center of the 
fur trade. Here the fur traders hired their 
men and sent them out in canoes to the distant 
northwest. Near the fort lived two great 
Indian tribes, the Ojibways and the Ottawas. 
They had fought on the side of the French 
and were hostile to the English. 

At the time of Pontiac's conspiracy Fort 
Mackinaw belonged to the English. The 
French garrison had gone away. But the 
British soldiers had not yet arrived. The 
Canadian settlers held the fort. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Alexander Henry, an English fur trader, 
had just come to Mackinaw with his canoe 
loaded with furs. Sixty jib way warriors 
with their chief came to the fort to meet the 
great fur trader. They came with tomahawk 
in one hand and scalping knife in the other. 

The O jib way chief made a long speech and 
promised Henry that he might sleep safe 
without help from the Ottawas. As usual, 
they smoked the pipe of peace. After ex- 
changing presents with the fur trader, the 
savages left for their homes. 

In a few days two hundred Ottawa warriors 
came to the fort to see Henry and the other 
traders. These Indians were bolder than the 
O jib ways. 

''You must give us all your furs," said the 
Ottawa chief, ''or we shall make you do it." 

"No, we will never give them to you," 
rephed Henry. 

Thirty fur traders kept watch all that night 
in Henry's house. The Indians did not dare 
to make an attack. During the night scouts 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

brought word that British soldiers were com- 
ing to their help. 

At sunrise the Ottawas did not stop to say 
good-by, but launched their canoes and paddled 
away in haste. The British soldiers had 
arrived. For a time the fur traders were safe. 

Pontiac was now stirring up the Indian 
tribes against the EngUsh. His attack on 
Fort Detroit greatly excited the O jib ways. 
They planned to capture Fort Mackinaw and 
kill the garrison. Then they would kill all the 
English on the Great Lakes. 

Some Canadian settlers sent a word of 
warning to the fort. 

A certain O jib way warrior, who was friendly 
to Henry, paddled across the river to warn 
his friend of the coming attack. 

''Do not stay here," he begged; ''your hfe 
is in danger." 

The fur trader would not heed the kindly 
warning. 

It was in June. The day was sultry. Early 
in the morning some Indian chiefs came to the 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

fort and invited the officers and men to come 
out and see a game of ball. 

The redskins had set up two posts a long 
distance apart. They laid a ball on the 
ground midway between the posts. They di- 
vided themselves into two sides, and each side 
tried to bat the ball toward the opposite post. 

The officers and men watched the ball driven 
back and forth, chased by the shouting players. 
More than three hundred brawny warriors 
were in the sport, running to and fro. 

During the game somebody struck the ball 
a harder blow than usual. It rose high in the 
air, and circHng over dropped inside the 
pickets of the fort. Of course the players 
dashed headlong after it. The officers and 
soldiers thought nothing wrong, and the pant- 
ing horde swarmed through the gateway. 

The knocking of the ball over the pickets 
was not an accident. It had been agreed on 
beforehand. It was the Indians' trick to get 
inside the stockade without rousing suspicion. 

In a twinkling the savages drew their hidden 

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tomahawks and scalping knives, and attacked 
the garrison. The Enghsh were so taken by 
surprise that they could not defend themselves. 
It was a cruel massacre. 

Henry was not among those who were 
watching the game. He was in a room in one 
of the log cabins, writing letters. Hearing 
the strange noise outside, he rose from his 
chair and looked out of the window. A 
horrible sight met his gaze. He saw his 
countrymen falhng on every side. The In- 
dians were slaying and scalping them without 
mercy. 

Henry saw his own peril. The thought came 
to him that the only place of safety was in 
one of the cabins of the Canadians. It would 
not do to stay where he was, for the Indians 
had already begun searching the cabins of the 
Enghsh for more victims. He ran downstairs, 
dashed out of the rear door, and chmbed over 
the fence into the yard of his nextdoor neigh- 
bor, who was a Canadian. Plunging into the 
rear of the house, he saw the Canadian and 

43 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

members of his family watching the fearful 
deeds from the windows. 

In this moment of despair a Pawnee squaw, 
a servant of the family, beckoned to Henry to 
follow her, and passed softly through the door. 
She opened another door, whispering that it 
led to the garret. As soon as she let him into 
the garret, she locked the door and went down- 
stairs, taking the key with her. 

The cabin was so loosely built that Henry 
could look through the cracks and watch the 
massacre. Several of the savages, seeing that 
no more victims were left, now ran to the house 
where the trader was hiding. They asked 
the Canadian if there were any EngUshmen 
inside. 

''I do not know of any," replied the Cana- 
dian. He spoke the truth, for he had not 
seen what his servant did. ''If you have any 
doubts, search for yourselves." 

The warriors went up the stairs. Finding 
the door locked, they returned for the key. 
The delay gave Henry time to conceal himself. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

In the corner of the room he saw a heap of 
wooden tubs used in making maple sugar. 
He crawled under them and covered himself as 
well as he could. 

He had barely hidden himself when four 
Indians, covered with blood, entered the 
room. In the dim Hght they walked about 
the garret, looking here and there. They 
came so close that the fur trader could have 
touched them. They went downstairs with- 
out finding him. 

Henry's life was saved. But he had many 
thrilling adventures and weeks of suffering 
before he reached his home in Montreal. 

He Hved for nearly fifty years after the 
massacre at Mackinaw. He often told of his 
adventures in the wilderness and his fights 
with the Indians. 



45 



VII 

RAISING THE STARS AND STRIPES 

DURING the first year of the American 
Revolution there were many different 
American flags. Our first warships 
carried a white flag with a green pine tree, 
called the Pine-tree Flag. The people in 
South Carohna had a blue flag with a white 
crescent. 

Some flags had patriotic mottoes, such as 
''Liberty," ''Liberty and Union," "Liberty 
or Death." One flag had the picture of a 
rattlesnake with the motto "Don't tread on 
me." 

In 1775, when General Washington took 
command of the patriot army at Cambridge, 
he had a flag called the Great Union, or the 
Cambridge flag. The king's colors on this 
flag meant that the colonies were still loyal to 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

King George. They wanted justice and their 
rights as subjects of the king. 

"We hoisted the union flag at Cambridge," 
said General Washington, '4n compHment to 
the United Colonies, and saluted it with thir- 
teen guns." 

On the fourth of July, 1776, the Declaration 
of Independence said to all the world that 
there was a new nation, the United States of 
America. Of course the new nation must 
have a flag, and only one. 

Do you remember the story of how General 
Washington called on Betsy Ross, in Phila- 
delphia, and planned the first national flag, 
with the stars and stripes? This was in the 
early summer of 1777. 

It was in this same summer that the national 
flag was raised for the first time. This hap- 
pened at Fort Stanwix, in the State of New 
York, on the spot where the city of Rome 
now stands. 

The EngUsh called New England the head 
of the rebelHon. They wished to cut off this 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

head from the rest of the colonies and end the 
war. They planned to do this by using three 
armies. Their main army, under General 
Burgoyne, was to start in Canada and march 
south to Albany, on the Hudson River. Sir 
Wilham Howe was to march up the Hudson 
River and meet General Burgoyne at Albany. 
The third army was to sail up the Saint Law- 
rence River, land in the State of New York, 
and march to Albany by way of the Mohawk 
River. 

This third army was commanded by Colonel 
Saint Leger. Besides his English soldiers he 
had a large number of Mohawk Indians. It 
was his duty to capture Fort Stanwix, which 
commanded the main hne of trade between 
New York and upper Canada. 

Early in August Colonel Saint Leger reached 
the fort and ordered it to surrender. Colonel 
Gansevoort, who was in command, refused 
to do so. 

When the pioneers of this region heard that 
Saint Leger was near Fort Stanwix, they 

48 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

hurried to the rescue. General Herkimer, a 
sturdy soldier more than sixty years old, 
marched at the head of eight hundred 
men. 

On the evening of the fifth of August 
Herkimer reached Oriskany, about eight miles 
from the fort. The old soldier was cautious. 
He sent three men ahead to tell Colonel Gan- 
sevoort that he. was coming. The men in 
the fort were to fire three shots when it was 
time for him to march to their reUef. 

The messengers got lost in the woods. 

Meanwhile Herkimer's young officers began 
to get angry at the delay. They even called 
the old soldier a Tory and a traitor. 

This was too much for the old patriot. 
"You want to fight, do you?" he said in his 
wrath. "You'll be the first to run when 
you smell burnt gunpowder." 

Stung by the insults, the old soldier decided 
not to wait any longer. On the next morning 
he advanced until he came within two miles 
of the fort. Indian scouts had told Saint 

49 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Leger that Herkimer was coming. A strong 
force of Tories and Indians were sent out to 
check the advance of the patriots. 

Two miles from Oriskany the road crossed 
a deep ravine, at the bottom of which was a 
swamp. The steep banks of the ravine were 
thickly covered with trees and underbrush. 
In this place the Indians, under their great 
chief Joseph Brant, made an ambush. 

The patriot army feU into the trap. They 
soon ralUed from their surprise. They formed 
themselves in a circle and fought in fron- 
tier style. Early in the battle a musket ball 
shattered Herkimer's leg. The old soldier 
had himself propped up against a big tree. 
The bullets flew thick and fast about him, 
but he gave his orders as calmly as if he 
were on parade. 

The day was hot. Suddenly black clouds 
burst over the ravine. The rain fell in tor- 
rents. The wet rifles were now of no use, and 
the deadly fight went on with hatchets, knives, 
and bayonets. 

50 




The old soldier had himself propped against a big t 

Page 50. 



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This kind of fighting was too much for the 
savages. They raised a cry of retreat and in 
a moment were gone into the woods. The 
Tories made haste to retreat to the main 
army. 

The patriots returned to Oriskany. Of the 
eight hundred men who fought under Her- 
kimer on that day, only one third ever saw 
their homes again. Oriskany was the fiercest 
battle of the Revolution. Like the battles 
of olden times, it was mostly a hand-to-hand 
fight. No quarter was asked or given. 

Colonel Gansevoort, at Fort Stanwix, had 
heard the crack of the rifles in the forest. 
He knew what it meant. Ho sent out Colonel 
Willett to make a flank attack on the enemy. 
Colonel Willett sacked a part of the enemy's 
camp and returned with flve British flags. 

There was great rejoicing in the fort. 

"Raise these flags first, and then hoist our 
new flag over them," said Colonel Ganse- 
voort. The men ran here and there about 
the fort in their search for an American flag. 

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There was no flag of the right kind to be 
found anywhere. 

'^ Don't give it up, boys," shouted the gal- 
lant commander; ^4et us make a flag with the 
stars and stripes." 

One of the officers gave a white shirt. An- 
other brought a blue jacket. 

''But what shall we do for red cloth to make 
the stripes?" somebody asked. 

There was not a red shirt in the fort. 

''How will this do, boys?" asked a soldier's 
wife, and she came with a red petticoat. 

"Hip, hip, hurrah! now we have it," 
laughed the riflemen. 

It did not take long for these frontier people 
to make the flag and hoist it over the fort. It 
was a rude kind of flag, but it answered the 
purpose as well as if it had been made of the 
finest silk. 

Let us remember the date, the sixth of 
August, 1777; for on this day the Stars and 
Stripes was unfurled to the breeze for the first 
time. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Let US remember, too, that our flag is a sol- 
emn national symbol. Even its colors have 
a language of their own. Red is for valor, 
white for purity, and blue for justice. 

"Hail to the flag, 

The dear bonny flag, 
The flag that is red, white, and blue: 

Over the brave 

Long may it wave, 
Peace to the world ever bringing." 



53 



VIII 

ON THE FRONTIER IN VERMONT 

OUR story begins near Bennington, a 
little town on the frontier in Vermont, 
in the summer of 1777. General John 
Stark, an old soldier of the French and Indian 
War, was making ready to attack the British. 
The British were in great need. Every 
pound of food had to be brought from Canada. 
Nobody except the Tories would sell them 
meat or corn. They did not have horses 
enough to drag their cannon. 

Bennington, a Httle village at the foot of the 
Green Mountains, was the center of supplies 
for the patriots. Here hundreds of horses 
and a large supply of food and gunpowder had 
been collected. Some British troops and 
Indians set out to capture the supphes. 

''Hundreds of farmers in that region are 

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loyal subjects of King George," one of the 
British officers had said; ''they will flock to 
us the moment they meet our men." The 
British came, expecting to enlist many of the 
Vermont farmers, but found that they had 
been deceived. 

The patriots began to rally from far and 
near. 

''I have three thousand dollars in hard 
money," said John Langdon, a sturdy old 
New Hampshire patriot. "I will pledge my 
plate for as much more. I have seventy hogs- 
heads of rum, which shall be sold. Our old 
friend, John Stark, who fought at Bunker Hill, 
will work Hke a beaver to stop the British." 

Messengers rode hard and fast over the hills 
to tell the men to come at once. Old men of 
seventy, and even boys of fifteen, turned out 
to join the fight. They seized their muskets, 
left the women and children to look after the 
crops, and hurried to Stark's camp. They 
even mounted an old rusty cannon on cart 
wheels and dragged it across the mountains. 

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Some of the farmers brought their spoons, 
porringers, and clock weights, to melt into 
bullets. 

One boy who wished to go along had no 
coat. His mother took a meal bag and made 
a hole for his head and two more for his arms. 
Then cutting off the feet of a pair of her 
stockings, she sewed them on for sleeves, 
and hurried him away to the army. 

In a few days eight hundred patriots were 
ready to march with General Stark. Some of 
the men had tramped all night in a drenching 
rain and reached Bennington wet to the skin. 
They were allowed to rest and get dry. Stark 
hurried on until he came within a few miles 
of the enemy. 

The next day the rain fell in torrents. 

During the night a company of militia ar- 
rived from Massachusetts. With them came 
the Reverend Mr. Allen, a minister who could 
fight as well as preach. 

"General Stark," he said, "our men from 
the Berkshire Hills have never had a chance 

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to fight. If you do not let us fight now, they'll 
never turn out again." 

^'My good man," repUed Stark, "do you 
want to fight while it is pitch dark and rain- 
ing buckets? " 

''No," said the minister, "not just this 
minute." 

"Well, then," said Stark, "if the Lord 
sends us sunshine to-morrow, and I don't give 
you fighting enough, I'll never ask you to 
turn out again." 

The next morning the sun rose bright and 
clear. The patriots spent the forenoon in 
planning the attack. The British, with some 
Hessians and Indians, waited in a strong 
position on a hill. 

Stark called his men together in a large 
field and leaped to the topmost rail of a fence. 
He steadied himself by a tall post and spoke 
to his troops. His words have become famous : 
"Now, my men, yonder are the Hessians. 
They are bought for seven pounds tenpence a 
man. Are you worth more? Prove it. To- 

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night the American flag floats over yonder 
hill, or Molly Stark sleeps a widow." 

It was now three o'clock in the afternoon. 
Stark was ready to begin the battle. 

''Forward, forward, my men," he shouted, 
as he led his raw recruits boldly up the hill 
against the British front. 

Early in the fight the Indians took to their 
heels and ran screeching into the woods. 
The Hessians stood their ground and fought 
Uke heroes. The patriots opened a deadly 
fire in the rear and on both flanks. The 
British commander fell, seriously wounded. 
There was a hard fight for two hours. It was 
one continuous roar, as Stark afterwards 
called it. At last the Hessians broke in 
disorder. 

There was not a moment to lose. Fresh 
British troops came upon the scene and put 
up a hvely fight. It would have fared ill with 
the patriots if reinforcements had not arrived 
and driven the British back. Under cover 
of the darkness the British slowly retreated, 

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and at last reached their main army with only- 
sixty men. 

Bennington was not a great battle, but it 
meant much to the patriot cause in the early 
days of the Revolution. It was a brilhant 
victory. It spread hope and joy throughout 
the land. Stark with his rural soldiers had 
beaten two of Burgoyne's best officers in a 
pitched battle. It was a hard blow to the 
proud Burgoyne and his campaign. His main 
army of invasion was crippled, and it never 
fully recovered. 



59 



IX 

ELIZABETH ZANE 

FORT HENRY was built on the bank of 
the Ohio River, where afterwards grew 
up the city of WheeHng, in West Vir- 
ginia. This fort received its name from 
Patrick Henry, the great orator of Virginia, 
who stirred the men of the Revolution to 
heroic deeds. 

It was near sunset of a lovely day in Sep- 
tember, during the first year of the Revolution. 
A scout had run into the little settlement to 
warn the pioneers. 

Before dark every man, woman, and child 
near the settlement was safe within the stock- 
ade. On the same night, down the valley of 
the Ohio River, could be seen the flames of 
burning log cabins. 

At sunrise Captain Mason led out a few men 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

to look for Indians. The savages were hiding 
in the corn and underbrush. They fell sud- 
denly on the Httle scouting party and killed 
more than half of them. 

Captain Ogle and twelve riflemen hurried to 
the help of Captain Mason. Only four men 
got back to the fort. The big gate was hardly 
shut and bolted when a hundred Indians 
with fierce war whoops made a dash for the 
stockade. 

Inside the log fence fifty women and children 
were huddled together, with fewer than twenty 
men and boys to defend them. But three of 
the men were fearless Indian fighters, Colonel 
Sheppard and Captains Ebenezer and Silas 
Zane. 

Suddenly the war whoops stopped. A man 
named Simon Girty came toward the fort, 
waving a white flag. 

'' Surrender," he cried with an oath. "I 
have four hundred savages here in the woods. 
A word from me, and they will kill every one 
of you before sunset." 

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''Surrender to a white-faced traitor! No, 
indeed," shouted Captain Sheppard. ''There 
may be forty of you to one of us. We will 
fight while there is one of us left." 

Girty swore another oath, shook his fist at 
the fort, and went back to his Indian 
friends. 

The settlers of Fort Henry had good reason 
to hate Simon Girty. When but a small boy, 
he had been captured by the Indians and 
adopted. He turned traitor to his own people 
and often led the Indians against the remote 
settlements. His name was a terror to the 
pioneers along the Ohio. 

When the men in Fort Henry refused to sur- 
render, he began an attack. The fight went 
on for several hours, but the Httle garrison 
did not lose heart. Even the boys used their 
rifles with deadly effect. Some of the women 
molded the buUets; others cooled the guns and 
loaded them. 

During the day the Indians tried several 
times to storm the fort or set it on fire. At 

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sunset they went into the woods, but after a 
time came back and made the night hideous 
with their yells. All those dreadful hours, 
without food or sleep, the men and women 
stood at their posts. 

At sunrise the battle began again. At one 
time the Indians used logs as battering rams 
and tried to break down the big gate. 

About noon the deadly fire of the pioneers 
drove the Indians into the woods; but soon 
the men began to whisper to each other. 

What could be the matter? 

A boy ran to his mother and cried, ''Oh, 
mother, the powder is almost gone." 

A rifleman at one of the loopholes turned 
round and said, ''There are not half a dozen 
rounds left." 

"Keep up your courage, men," shouted 
Captain Ebenezer Zane. "There is a keg of 
powder in my cabin." 

But his cabin was outside the stockade, 
three hundred feet away. 

"If we give up the fort," added Captain 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Silas Zane, ''every man of us will be burnt 
at the stake, and our women and children will 
be carried away to Canada or put to a cruel 
death." 

"This is no time to talk," said Captain 
Sheppard; ''there is a keg of powder in Cap- 
tain Zane's cabin. Who will go for it? " 

"I will go for it. Let me go," shouted 
every man and boy in that little band of 
pioneers. 

At this moment a young girl named Eliza- 
beth Zane, or Betty, as she was usually called, 
ran up to the men and cried out, "No, no, we 
cannot spare a man. I will go myself. I 
shall not be missed. I'm not afraid. God 
will protect me." 

"Betty, you are only a girl," said a boy; 
"you can't run fast enough. The redskins 
will catch you." 

"Never mind," replied Betty; "I'm going 
for the powder. Let somebody pin up my 
hair so that the Indians can't catch hold 
of it." 

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There was no time to lose. Even now the 
Indians were seen creeping out of the under- 
brush. 

Kneehng for a moment in prayer, the young 
girl rose with a smile on her sweet face and 
said quietly, ''I am ready." 

The big gate of the fort was opened just wide 
enough for her to sHp out. Slowly, as if going 
to pick flowers in the woods, she walked across 
the open space between the stockade and her 
brother's cabin. 

For once the Indians were off their guard. 
They were surprised to see a young bareheaded 
girl come quietly out of the fort as if for a walk. 

''Squaw, squaw," the savages shouted, but 
did not fire a shot. 

She reached the cabin and found the powder. 
She stood for a moment in the doorway with 
the keg clasped in her arms. She gave a quick 
look at the big gate. It seemed a long way off. 

The people in the fort watched every move- 
ment and saw her dart away toward the 
gate. 

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The Indians were not caught napping this 
time. Now they knew what the girl was doing. 
They set up a fearful yell. 

Bang! bang! cracked the rifles of the 
savages. The bullets whizzed past her, but 
not one did her any harm. Almost at the 
gate she tripped and fell. 

Crack! crack! went the bullets. 

"My poor sister!" cried Silas Zane; "a 
bullet has hit her." 

But Betty, unhurt, picked herself up and 
hurried on. A moment later the big gate 
swung open, and the brave girl with her prize 
fell into the arms of her brother Silas. 

Wild cheers filled Fort Henry when the 
defenders knew that the girl was safe. 

That night a famous pioneer arrived with 
fourteen men and fought his way into the 
stockade. At daybreak, McCuUoch, another 
frontier hero, came with forty riflemen from 
neighboring settlements. 

Girty now gave up the siege. After kilhng 
several hundred head of cattle and burning a 

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few log cabins, the hated outlaw and his 
savages hurried across the Ohio. 

The defense of Fort Henry was one of the 
most remarkable in the history of the frontier. 
Not a man of the garrison was lost during the 
siege. Nearly one hundred of the Indians 
were killed. 

Twenty years later Captain Ebenezer Zane 
founded the town of Zanesville, in Ohio. 

As for Betty Zane, she lived to a good old 
age, loved and respected by all who knew her. 
She spent all her long Ufe near Wheeling, not 
far from the scene of her daring exploit. 

She was often asked to tell how she got the 
keg of powder; but, as one young girl said, 
who heard her tell the story, ^^ Never did 
EHzabeth Zane speak of her deed boastfully 
or as a wonderful matter." 



67 



X 

THE HERO OF THE NORTHWEST 

YOU will remember that the capture of 
Quebec gave England all the land east 
of the Mississippi River. You will 
remember, too, that the great Indian chief 
Pontiac made war on the EngUsh, because 
he thought the Indians would be driven from 
their hunting grounds. 

In the year 1769, ten years after the fall of 
Quebec, Daniel Boone went from North 
Carolina to settle in Kentucky. When the 
American Revolution broke out, there were 
several hundred heroic men and women in 
Kentucky and Tennessee. They had savages 
all about them. Their life was one long dismal 
story of desperate fighting to defend their 
homes against their cruel foes. 

Among the settlers in Kentucky there was 



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a famous hunter and Indian fighter named 
George Rogers Clark. 

The colonies were now at war with England, 
and Clark wished to seize the lands north of 
the Ohio River. In 1777 he traveled back 
over the Wilderness Road to lay his plans be- 
fore Patrick Henry, the governor of Virginia. 

''The way to defend Kentucky," he said, 
''is to carry the war across the Ohio and 
capture the outposts from the EngUsh. If we 
could only capture Kaskaskia, Vincennes, and 
perhaps Detroit, Kentucky would be safe, 
and the whole region north of the Ohio 
would be won for our country." 

Patrick Henry answered, "We have heard 
of your heroic work against the Indians in 
Kentucky. You now plan a patriotic deed. 
It must be kept secret." 

"How much aid can you give me?" asked 
Clark. "I have come six hundred miles 
through the wilderness to get your advice 
and your help." 

"I can let you have a little money and 

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perhaps five hundred pounds of gunpowder. 
I will also give you the right to enlist men to 
defend our people south of the Ohio." 

Clark was made a colonel, with permission 
to raise three hundred and fifty men. Orders 
were given the state officers at Fort Pitt to 
furnish him with boats, suppUes, and gun- 
powder. He spent the winter in making 
preparations. 

In the spring he and his Httle army of about 
two hundred men drifted down the Ohio River 
in flatboats, until they reached the place 
where now stands the city of Louisville. Here 
Clark enlisted a few more men, and weeded 
out those who seemed to be unable to endure 
fatigue and hardship. Four Uttle companies 
of less than fifty men each, with four trusty 
captains, composed his entire army. 

He now continued his voyage down the 
Ohio. His plan was to land near the mouth 
of the Tennessee River, march across the 
country, and attack Kaskaskia, the nearest 
British stronghold in the Illinois region. 

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At the landing place he was met by some 
friendly hunters who had been in the French 
settlements. "Let us join you," they said to 
Clark; "we will guide you by the shortest 
route." 

With these hunters as guides, Clark began 
the march of a hundred miles through the 
pathless wilderness. 

Once the chief guide lost his way. 

"If you don't find the trail in less than two 
hours," said the stern leader, "I'll shoot you." 

The man was faithful, soon found the trail, 
and led the party straight to the Kaskaskia 
River, within three miles of the town of Kas- 
kaskia. Under the cover of darkness Clark 
ferried his men across the river and marched 
up to the fort. 

Inside the stockade the lights were in full 
blaze. Through the windows came the sound 
of music and dancing. The British officers 
were giving a party to the fight-hearted Creole 
women. They feared nothing. Even the 
sentinels had left their posts. 

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Placing his men about the main entrance of 
the fort, Clark walked boldly into the dance 
hall. He leaned against the doorpost and 
with folded arms stood watching the gay 
dancers. 

An Indian lying on the floor suddenly spied 
the tall stranger. He sprang to his feet and 
gave a war whoop. The dancing stopped as 
if by magic. The Creole women screamed. 
The men ran toward the door. 

''Go on with your dance," shouted the grim 
rifleman, ''but remember you now dance 
under the American flag, not under that of 
Great Britain." 

At the same time Clark's men rushed in and 
took the town and the fort. 

Clark now made friends with the Creoles. 
He formed them into companies and drilled 
them every day. A French priest proved to 
be a good friend to the Americans. He per- 
suaded his people in the neighboring villages, 
and even at Vincennes, a hundred and forty 
miles away, to raise the American flag. 

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Angry enough was Hamilton, the Ueutenant 
governor of Detroit, when he heard what the 
bold young Virginian had done. He hurried 
away with a strong force of regulars and 
Indians and easily took Vincennes. 

''Clark has only a hundred men, and I have 
five hundred. One hundred men can hold 
Vincennes," said Hamilton. "It will be a 
midwinter march of one hundred miles or 
more to Kaskaskia. I can easily take it in the 
spring. So I will send back most of my 
troops to Detroit." 

If Hamilton had cared to go on, he could 
have retaken Kaskaskia. 

Clark now decided to recapture Vincennes. 
In the first week of February, with about 
two hundred riflemen and Creoles, he began 
his march of more than two hundred miles. 

For the first week the little army advanced 
rapidly. Their rifles supplied them with 
food. As an old journal says, ''At nightfall 
they broiled their buffalo steak over huge 
camp fires and feasted like Indian dancers." 

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During the next week fatigue and hardship 
began in real earnest. The ice on the rivers 
melted, and the lowlands were flooded. The 
Uttle branches of the Wabash River became 
one great stream, five miles wide. 

It took Clark three days to get his little 
army across the flooded plain. The game 
had been driven away, and the men soon began 
to suffer from lack of food. Chilled and foot- 
sore, they made slow progress, traveling all 
day through mud and water. 

Clark showed himself a man of iron will and 
grim wit. He was the first to test every 
danger. He made a joke of every hardship. 

''Come on, boys," he shouted, as he plunged 
into the icy water. 

''Take my blanket; I have no use for it," 
he cried to a half-frozen fellow. 

"I'm not hungry; help yourself to that 
frozen buffalo meat," he said to some half- 
starved rifleman. 

On the tenth day the tired and hungry 
army heard the sunrise gun at Vincennes, nine 

74 



'",- ^Ix-'? -Vrf^QsL'v^i'.aiW^rrTfcS'-t •*•--.■.- ''•.-■ 



4 




'Take up that little fellow on your shoulder," shouted Clark. 

Page 7.'). 



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miles away. In rude canoes they ferried 
across the Wabash River. For three miles 
they waded through deep water, and then 
camped for the night on a bank of mud, which 
rose Hke an island above the flood. 

The next day they were slow to plunge into 
the river. Clark was full of fun and good 
cheer. As the story goes, there was with them 
a little drummer boy fourteen years old. 

''Take up that Httle fellow on your 
shoulder," shouted Clark to the tallest rifle- 
man, "and make him pound his drum." 

The stirring music began. 

"Now, men, go ahead." 

They went forward with a shout. 

Soon they came to a place so deep that 
nobody dared to wade across. Clark blacked 
his face with gunpowder, as the Indians did 
when ready to die, gave a war whoop, and 
jumped into the water. With a wild shout 
the men followed. Singing merry songs, they 
continued their march, and again camped 
on an island of mud. 

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The next day was cold, but clear. 

''We shall reach Vincennes before night," 
said Clark; '' so keep up your courage." 

The greatest peril of all was before them. 
The Horseshoe Plain had become a lake four 
miles wide. Clark led the way through the 
icy waters. The tall and the strong helped 
the short and the weak. 

One of the riflemen captured an Indian 
canoe paddled by some squaws. It was a 
rich prize, for in it Avere some buffalo meat 
and a kettle. Broth was soon made. With 
merry jokes and songs the Uttle army now 
continued its march. 

A Creole duck hunter was captured. 

Clark boldly sent him back to Vincennes 
with a message to Hamilton. "Tell him 
that I have arrived. Tell the Creoles to keep 
in their houses." 

The Creoles did not dare to disobey. The 
Indians took to the woods. Nobody told 
Hamilton what was going on. 

At dusk Clark marched into the village. 

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Crack! crack! sounded the rifles just out- 
side the fort. 

''Clark is here," somebody cried to Hamil- 
ton; "make the most of a bad job, for 
this fort will be down on our heads before 



morning." 



During the night Clark dug some trenches, 
within rifle shot of the fort. At daybreak he 
opened a sharp fire. Into the portholes the 
bullets hummed hke mad hornets. The Eng- 
lish fought bravely, but the deadly fire of the 
long rifles won the day. Hamilton sur- 
rendered, as he said, ''to a set of uncivil- 
ized Virginian backwoodsmen armed with 
rifles." 

From this time the backwoodsmen in Ken- 
tucky had less fear of the Indians. Settlers 
from the east began to pour into the Ohio 
country. 

A few years later, when the Revolution was 
at an end, the boundary lines of the United 
States were the Great Lakes on the north, and 
on the west the Mississippi River. This great 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

region became the states of Ohio, Indiana, and 
lUinois. 

Let us not forget George Rogers Clark, the 
hero of the northwest, who by a brilUant and 
daring exploit gave three states to the Union. 



78 



XI 

SIMON KENTON 

THE famous Simon Kenton was born 
in Virginia, twenty years before the 
battle of Lexington. As a boy, he 
lived on a farm, with almost no chance to go 
to school. At the age of sixteen he had a 
quarrel with a rival in a love affair and ran 
away to Kentucky, where he joined Daniel 
Boone and the other pioneers there. Within 
a few years he was one of the most daring 
pioneers and Indian fighters in the history of 
our country. 

One day several men at work in the fields 
near the stockade at Boonesborough were 
attacked by Indians. Boone heard their 
shouts and rushed out of the fort with thirteen 
riflemen. The savages in ambush killed six 
of the party and badly wounded their leader. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

While Boone lay on the ground helpless, an 
Indian made ready to scalp him. Kenton 
ran to the help of the great pioneer. Taking 
him in his arms, he carried him into the 
stockade. 

Boone was generally silent and quiet, but 
on this occasion he made a speech. In thank- 
ing young Kenton for saving his Hfe he said, 
*'WeU, Simon, you have behaved hke a man 
to-day; indeed, you are a fine fellow." 

Like other Indian fighters of that time, 
Kenton was fond of making raids into the 
Indian country. 

He and two companions once entered an 
Indian village. They stole a hundred and 
sixty good horses, which they drove to the 
bank of the Ohio River. There was a stiff 
breeze, and the water was so rough that the 
horses would not swim across. 

It seemed too bad to lose all these fine 
horses, for they were needed in the settle- 
ments. While the reckless pioneers were 
waiting for the wind to die down, the angry 

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savages found them. Their rifles and powder 
were wet and useless. One of the three 
was killed; another ran off; Kenton was 
captured. 

Blackfist, the Indian chief, looked sternly 
at Kenton and said in EngUsh, ''Have you 
been steaUng our horses? '* 

''Yes." 

"Did Captain Boone tell you to steal our 
horses?" 

"No, I did it myself. Daniel Boone had 
nothing to do with it." 

Blackfist beat Kenton with a club and 
hickory switches until the blood ran. 

The Indians now started for home. At 
night they tied the young pioneer so tight 
with buffalo thongs that he could not move 
hand or foot. During the day they made 
him ride through bushes and brambles on the 
back of a wild young colt. They had tied his 
hands behind him, so that he could not shield 
his face. They treated him in this way for 
three days, until they reached their village. 

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Stiff, sore, and bleeding, Kenton was led 
out the next day to run the gantlet. The 
Indian warriors, squaws, and boys were 
formed into two long hnes. They were armed 
with clubs, sticks, and tomahawks. At the 
end of the Unes was the council house. If the 
victim was able to reach it after running 
between the lines, he was free from any more 
punishment for that day. 

The signal was given. 

Quick as a flash, Kenton darted off, dodging 
the blows as well as he could. Suddenly he 
spied a break in the line and sprang for it. 
His wonderful power as a runner served him 
well. He reached the council house with the 
angry savages at his heels. He had saved 
his Hfe for one more day. 

The next morning the Indians held a grand 
council. Should the prisoner be burnt at the 
stake or be led from one village to another to 
be punished? 

The question was put to a vote. A war 
club was passed from warrior to warrior as 

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they sat in a ring. A hard blow on the 
ground meant a quick death. A sHght blow, 
or none at all, meant that the prisoner should 
be spared for a few days. The council voted 
that their prisoner should be led from town 
to town. This meant that at each village 
Kenton was to run the gantlet or be tortured 
in horrible ways. 

At one Indian village, when he ran the 
gantlet, he broke through the hne and dashed 
away into the woods. He easily outran his 
pursuers, but was captured by another party 
of savages. 

At two other villages he was condemned 
to be burnt ahve at the stake. His face was 
daubed with burnt gunpowder, as a sign that 
he was to die. At the first of these villages 
Kenton's old friend, the wicked renegade 
Simon Girty, rescued him. At the second 
village, when he was bound at the stake and 
the fire was going to be Ughted, the great 
Mingo chief Logan saved him from death. 

After running the gantlet eight times and 

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being tied to the stake three times to be 
burnt alive, Kenton was bought by some 
traders. They took him to Detroit and kept 
him a prisoner all winter. 

The dull life at the frontier fort did not suit 
the restless pioneer. He longed to shoot the 
big game once more, or lead his men in some 
fierce fight with the savages. 

He made friends with two of Boone's men 
who were prisoners with him. In some way 
they got rifles and powder, and made their 
escape. They traveled only by night. After 
enduring many perils and hardships, they 
reached the Ohio River. 

While Kenton was a prisoner at Detroit, an 
Enghsh officer gave him a sunglass to fight his 
pipe. Kenton always carried it with him. 

Shortly after his return home he was again 
captured by the Indians. Again he was 
bound to the stake. It seemed that he must 
surely die. 

As a last request, be begged that he might 
smoke a few minutes. The request was 

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granted. An Indian brought him fire to light 
his pipe. 

Kenton waved him off, saying, '^No, I will 
call on the sun." 

He then held the glass to the sun and lit 
his pipe. The Indians were astonished. When 
their prisoner made motions to the sun and set 
fire to the leaves, they were afraid of him. 

''Unbind my ankles at once," he said to the 
chief. 

The Indian did not dare to disobey such 
a man, and loosed the thongs. While he was 
doing so, Kenton burned a bHster on the 
warrior's wrist. Kenton now declared to the 
Indians that he would call on the sun to 
destroy them if they did not run into the 
woods. A few minutes later he was alone, a 
free man. 

Simon Kenton hved to fight in the War of 
1812. He died at the age of eighty-one. He 
had served his country long and faithfully. 



85 



XII 

THE WOMEN SAVE BRYAN's STATION 

BRYAN'S STATION was about five miles 
north of Lexington, in Kentucky. This 
fort was built by the Bryan brothers. 
Betty Bryan, whom the famous Daniel Boone 
married, was a sister of these men. Daniel 
Boone's sister was the wife of one of Betty's 
brothers. 

During the summer of 1782 there was ter- 
rible fighting along the Ohio River. Several 
forts had been captured by the Indians, and 
their defenders were killed or burned at the 
stake. In August two renegades named 
McKee and Campbell, with the white traitor 
Simon Girty, led a party of four hundred 
Indians into the lovely blue-grass region of 
Kentucky. 
Their first blow was aimed at Bryan's 

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Station. They moved with the greatest speed, 
to take the fort by surprise. Before daybreak 
on the sixteenth of August, scouts came in and 
said that a large party of Indians were on their 
way to the fort. Shortly after, a number of 
savages were seen skulking on the edge of the 
woods, out of rifle range. 

''It is only a trick of the redskins," said 
Captain Craig, who was in command of the 
fort. "There is a big party in the woods 
ready to make an attack from another di- 
rection." 

The old Indian fighter was right in his guess. 
The Indians had planned to hide in the woods 
behind the fort until they heard firing from 
the front. Then they were to rush out and 
scale the paUsade. 

Some of the women in the fort seemed to be 
anxious about something. They whispered to 
the men. The smaller boys began to cry and 
cling to their mothers. Even some of the 
old gray-headed riflemen looked troubled. 

What could be the matter? 

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It was a very simple, but a very serious 
thing. There was hardly a drop of water in 
the stockade. They had not had time to 
bring in the usual supply. The air in the 
log cabins and blockhouses was stifling. 

''We must have water to drink," said 
Captain Craig. 

"Yes," answered a rifleman, "but how shall 
we get it? It is death to go to the spring. 
There are a hundred redskins hiding in the 
underbrush." 

"Well, boys," replied Captain Craig, "I 
have been fighting Indians ever since I was a 
child. I have a plan. Let us outwit the 
redskins if we can. Those savages over there 
fancy we have not seen them. If any of us 
men go to the spring, they will fire on us and 
kill us. We cannot spare a single man." 

"You are right. Captain. But tell us your 
plan. We will do anything you say." 

"My plan," replied Captain Craig, "is that 
the women and children must go for water, 
just as they usually do. I don't believe the 

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Indians will fire on them. It is a risky thing, 
but it is our only chance. Call the women 
together, and I will tell them what to 
do." • 

Into a corner of the stockade came the 
women. Captain Craig turned to them and 
said, '^We cannot defend this fort without 
water to drink. We need your help. Will 
you go to the spring with your tubs and bring 
water for us?" 

These sturdy pioneer women had not Kved 
all their lives on the frontier in vain. They 
were not afraid to face danger. It was 
no time now to shrink from their plain 
duty. 

'^I will lead the way," said Mrs. Johnson, 
"with Betsy, my oldest girl. Sally, my 
youngest, will take care of the two httle 
boys and Dick in his cradle." 

The big gate swung slowly open. Twelve 
women and sixteen children quietly walked 
out. The youngest boys and girls tramped 
ahead with their wooden dippers. Behind 

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them slowly marched the women with their 
tubs. 

It was pathetic to see those fifty sturdy 
riflemen as they stood at the loopholes and 
watched their helpless dear ones. Captain 
Craig was a fearless man, but he grew pale as 
his wife and children walked slowly down the 
hill in full view of the savages. Nobody knew 
what would happen. 

The youngest children did not realize their 
danger. The women showed no sign of fear. 
The savages, hid in the underbrush, watched 
the Uttle procession walk quietly to the spring 
and fill their tubs and buckets with the cool 
water. 

The children were eager to run off and pick 
flowers, but Mrs. Johnson called them back. 
Nobody was allowed to leave the spring until 
all were ready. 

Slowly and calmly the little procession 
started back up the hill. The Indians re- 
mained hidden. 

Captain Craig and his men opened the big 

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gate. We can imagine what joy and relief 
these pioneers felt when their wives and 
children were safe within the stockade. 

Soon the attack on Bryan's Station began. 
Captain Craig played a trick on the Indians. 
He sent a small squad of his men to the front 
of the fort to open a brisk fire on the enemy. 
He then stationed the main body of his rifle- 
men at the rear, with orders not to fire until 
he gave the word. 

The Indians, misled by the firing in front, 
rushed up to the rear of the stockade. They 
were met with the fire of the riflemen and 
were quickly driven back into the forest. 

The fight was kept up all day. If an Indian 
showed himself anywhere in the open, he was 
sure to be killed. At one time the roofs of 
some of the cabins were set on fire by burning 
arrows. Some of the boys, and even the girls, 
cHmbed up on the roofs and put out the fire. 

The siege of Bryan's Station was kept up 
for two days and two nights. On the third 
day, after killing most of the cattle and pigs, 

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stealing some horses, and burning the fields 
of grain, the Indians gave up and went away. 
And now just a word about that little 
pioneer baby in his dugout cradle. His name, 
as you may remember, was Richard Johnson. 
He grew up and became a brave soldier of 
high rank. Thirty years afterwards he led 
the Kentucky riflemen in the battle of the 
Thames. In that battle he is said to have 
killed the famous Indian chief Tecumseh. 
More than fifty years after the siege of 
Bryan's Station he became vice president of 
the United States, under President Martin 
Van Buren. 



92 



XIII 

MOVING TO THE FRONTIER 

RUFUS PUTNAM was born in a little 
country village amid the hills of Massa- 
chusetts. He was only seven years old 
when his father died. His mother married 
the village tavern keeper. This stepfather 
was an ignorant man and would not allow the 
boy to go to school. 

Sometimes the guests at the tavern gave 
the lad a few pennies for running errands. 
After a while he saved enough money to buy 
a spelhng book, a geography, and an arith- 
metic. 

How he ever found time to study these 
books we do not know. He had to work hard 
all day, and was not allowed to use a candle 
at night. After he was nine years old, he went 
to school only three weeks. 

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In spite of the hardships of his boyhood he 
grew up to be a large, strong man. When he 
was eighteen years old, he was six feet tall and 
a young giant in strength. Before he was 
twenty-five, he enhsted in the army and 
served in the French and Indian War. 

When Washington took command of the 
patriot army in Cambridge, he heard that 
there was a young officer who had made a 
name for himself as a land surveyor. This 
officer was Rufus Putnam. Washington sent 
for him and set him to work laying out camps 
and throwing up earthworks about Boston. 
Putnam did so well that he soon became chief 
engineer; later he was promoted to the rank 
of general. 

When the Revolution was over, the soldiers 
found their affairs in a bad way. They had 
been paid off in paper money. They had 
Httle or no real money to start again in business 
or to buy stock for their farms. 

Many of the old soldiers were paid off in 
land instead of money. People in the hill 

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towns of New England were eager at this 
time to find new homes on the frontier. 

General Putnam now planned to lead a 
band of settlers to the vast region beyond the 
mountains and north of the Ohio River. 
Through the good will of Washington he 
bought a grant of land for his fellow soldiers 
in what is now the southeastern part of Ohio. 

In a famous tavern in Boston, called the 
Bunch of Grapes, these men formed the Ohio 
Company. 

During the next year General Putnam got 
together a band of blacksmiths, carpenters, 
boat builders, and others who were eager to 
seek their fortunes in the West. He had them 
bring horses and wagons, and get ready for 
the long journey. 

It was midwinter when this band of sturdy 
men and women set out for the distant land 
beyond the Allegheny Mountains. 

Why did they start in winter? Because 
they wished to reach their new home in time 
to plant their fields in the early spring. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

It was a journey full of hardship and ex- 
posure, especially for the women and children. 
Most of the men had been in the war and did 
not mind the dangers along the way. Of 
course, this was a good many years before 
there were railroads and steamboats. 

It took eight weeks for these people to reach 
a Uttle branch of the Muskingum River, in 
northeastern Ohio. At this place they went 
into camp for the rest of the winter. 

Without delay the carpenters began to build 
a flatboat to go down the river. This boat 
was forty feet long and twelve feet wide. It 
was strongly built, and its timbers were 
bullet-proof against the attacks of the 
Indians. 

''What shall we caU our boat?" asked 
General Putnam. 

''Let us call it the Mayflower," answered 
one of the women. 

In the first week of April the little companj^ 
went on board their clumsy craft. They were 
going to float down the branch of the Mus- 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

kingum River and then down the Muskingum 
River itself till they reached the Ohio. 

The first part of their trip was delightful. 
The weather was warm and springlike. The 
grass was green, and the trees were putting 
out their leaves. The country looked beauti- 
ful. The hearts of the pioneers became Hghter. 
They sang their old songs and talked about 
their new home on the frontier. 

''In such a beautiful country as this we 
shall be happy indeed/' they said. Then like 
the Pilgrims of old they gave thanks for their 
blessings. 

It took the Mayflower about a week to 
reach the mouth of the Muskingum River. 
The pioneers chose the eastern bank for their 
settlement. Here they would be protected 
by Fort Harmar, just across the river. 

The guns of the fort fired a salute. The 
officers and soldiers gave a hearty welcome 
to the strangers from the East. 

The new settlers cut down trees and built 
a blockhouse fort on the top of a large Indian 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

mound. The stockade was large enough to 
hold all the people and protect them from the 
Indians. Here the women and children lived 
until the log cabins were ready. 

By the first of June, so we are told, one 
hundred and fifty acres of corn were planted. 
The corn grew rapidly in the rich, black 
soil. 

During the first summer eighty-four other 
settlers came from the East. They floated 
down the Ohio in a flatboat and anchored 
their boat beside the Mayflower. 

In the meantime the early settlers had 
planned a town, with a square and streets, to 
be built on the bank of the Ohio River. They 
named it Marietta, in honor of Marie An- 
toinette, queen of France; for she had been a 
good friend to the colonies during the Revo- 
lution. 

Marietta was the first town in Ohio. In a 
few years it grew to be a prosperous village 
of several hundred people. 

The success of the new settlements along 

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the upper Ohio was soon told through the East. 
The people were now eager to go to this new 
land of promise. Hundreds of them floated 
down the Ohio in flatboats and in all sorts of 
river craft. 

General Putnam lived a long and useful 
life, loved and respected by all. In times of 
famine and Indian wars he was a safe and 
wise leader. He had the people build churches 
and schoolhouses. Indeed, Marietta had not 
only the first school in Ohio, but the first 
Sunday school. In eight years the town had 
a pubUc hbrary. 

During Putnam's lifetime frontier settle- 
ments grew into villages, and villages into 
prosperous cities. Well-built houses took the 
place of rude log cabins, and Ohio became a 
rich and prosperous state in the Union. 

General Putnam's settlement at Marietta 
was not wonderful in itself; but it marked the 
beginning of a new era in the conquest of the 
country. These new settlers were nearly 
all old soldiers of the Revolution. They were 

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men of education and refinement. They 
were well fitted to become thrifty, hard- 
working, law-abiding citizens in a new country. 
It is not strange that they left their mark on 
the people of the Ohio Valley. 



100 



XIV 



Brady's leap for life 



IN the pioneer days Captain Sam Brady 
was well known to the frontier settlers of 
Western Pennsylvania and Virginia. The 
women and children loved him, and the men 
swore by him. The stories of his brave deeds, 
thrilling adventures, and hairbreadth escapes 
would fill a book much larger than this. 

His brother and his father had been killed 
by the Indians. In return he fought the red- 
skins with a stern hatred. At the head of his 
scouts he would make raids on the Indian 
war parties, or would go and attack their 
villages. 

Unlike some of the famous Indian fighters 
of his time, he was not cruel. He never killed 
peaceful Indians, or those who came to him . 
under a flag of truce. 

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Captain Brady came from a family of 
fighters. His father, Captain John Brady, 
of a fine old Irish family, fought as an officer 
under General Washington. During the ter- 
rible war with the savages Washington sent 
him and his regiment to Pennsylvania to 
protect the frontier. 

In the Brady family there were thirteen 
children, eight boys and five girls. Of these 
eight boys five fought in every war in America 
during their lifetime. Captain Sam was the 
oldest and most famous of this large family. 
When only nineteen, he enlisted in the patriot 
army. He was sent to join Washington's 
forces at Boston. For his dashing bravery 
in several battles he was made a captain, 
although only twenty-one years old. 

While Brady was serving as a spy for General 
Brodhead, he led a party in pursuit of some 
Sandusky Indians. One day he struck a 
fresh trail, which he followed with all speed 
until dark. The next morning he overtook a 
band of thirty savages at their breakfast. 

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''Boys," he said, "there are only five of us, 
but we can take care of thirty Indians." 

He posted his men and gave the signal for 
attack. They killed three Indians at the 
first volley. 

Just as they were reloading their guns, they 
were fired on from the rear. They had fallen 
into a trap set by the redskins. 

After a desperate fight Brady was made 
prisoner. 

"We got you now, Brady," said one of the 
Indians. "You come with us this time." 

The savages howled with joy over the cap- 
ture of the famous scout. They marched him 
through the Sandusky villages. They in- 
vited Indians from neighboring tribes to see 
their great enemy put to torture. 

The day for the torture came. Brady's 
clothes were stripped off, and he was bound to 
a stake. A slow fire was kindled round him. 

He did not intend to be burned ahve if he 
could help it. He was a powerful man, and 
in a moment he had broken loose. Quick as 

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a flash, he seized an Indian boy and threw 
him into the fire. In the confusion he dashed 
through the ring of howUng savages. 

The redskins now turned to pursue him. 

Brady was in a sad phght. Without cloth- 
ing or food he ran miles through the thick 
woods. At last he reached a river and hurried 
to the ford. But the Indians were ahead of 
him. 

At this place the river flowed through a 
ravine twenty feet wide. Its steep banks 
rose some twenty-five feet above the rapid 
stream. 

Brady could hear the howHng savages not 
far behind him. Throwing down their rifles 
and raising their tomahawks, they rushed 
ahead as if sure of their hated enemy. 

''No redskin shall ever get my scalp, or 
burn me at the stake, if I can help it," he said, 
as he stood for a moment on the edge of the 
ravine. 

Running back a little way to get a good 
start, he leaped from the high bank. He 

104 




lie jumped into the deep water and hid behind the trunk of a big 

chestnut tree. 

Page 105. 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

cleared the river and caught hold of some over- 
hanging bushes. He pulled himself up just as 
the Indians flocked to the edge of the ravine. 

The redskins looked at him in wonder. 
" Brady make one mighty good jump," grunted 
one of them; '' Indian no try." 

A warrior fired at Brady and slightly 
wounded him in the hip. 

A few miles down the river there was an- 
other ford. The Indians now hurried away 
to head off their enemy. There was not a 
moment to lose. 

Wounded as he was, Brady plunged into 
the woods and succeeded in reaching a Uttle 
pond, which has ever since been known as 
Brady's Lake. He jumped into the deep 
water and hid behind the trunk of a big chest- 
nut tree which had fallen into the pond. Some 
lilies and flags helped to conceal him. 

The Indians followed the trail to the pond. 
They tramped over the trunk of the chestnut 
tree and talked about their old enemy. They 
searched every nook and corner round the 

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pond. They could find no trace of him. At 
last they made up their minds that Hke a good 
warrior he had plunged into the water to save 
his scalp and was drowned. 

After other thrilhng adventures Brady got 
safe home. He Hved to do many brave deeds 
in the war with the Indians along the Ohio 
frontier. 

Like most of his famous family, Brady was 
a devout Christian and an eager student of 
the Bible. He was kind and gentle, and 
dearly beloved and respected. When at home, 
he Hked nothing better than to lie at full 
length before the big fireplace and tell stories 
to children. Nothing pleased them more than 
to sit and Hsten to the old Indian fighter. 



106 



XV 

OVER THE WILDERNESS ROAD 

RICHARD HENDERSON, who Hved 
in North Carolina, heard about the 
rich lands where Boone had hunted in 
the wilderness beyond the mountains. He 
made up his mind to found a colony there, as 
Penn had done in Pennsylvania. 

The first thing for him to do was to make a 
treaty with the Cherokee Indians. He and 
his friends met twelve hundred Cherokee 
warriors at a place called Sycamore Shoals, 
on the Watauga River. They gave the In- 
dians clothing, red cloth, trinkets, and a small 
sum of money for all the land between the 
Cumberland River and the Kentucky River. 
One old Indian chief. Dragging Canoe, did 
not Uke this. 

"There is a black cloud hanging over the 

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land," he said to Henderson. ''It is in the 
path of the Indians of the Northwest, who 
will show little mercy to the white man." 

''We have given you a fine land," the same 
old chief said to Boone, "but you will have 
much trouble to settle it." 

These words of Dragging Canoe proved 
true. For many years Kentucky was a dark 
and bloody ground. 

Henderson and his friends must now get 
the right man to cut a path to the distant 
land. 

At this time the fame of Daniel Boone had 
spread far and wide. He was a famous Indian 
fighter. He knew the woods. He was trusted 
by everybody. 

He was the man who could cut this path 
two hundred miles long through the trackless 
wilderness. He was the man to find a place 
for a settlement in Kentucky. 

Boone picked out thirty trained Indian 
fighters. They met at a little settlement on 
the Holston River. They were mounted on 

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swift, wiry horses and carried rifles, axes, and 
hatchets. 

Boone had seen forty years of active life 
on the frontier. ''At last," he said to his 
friends, " I am bound for the land of my heart's 
desire." 

He little dreamed of the great service he 
was going to do for his country in winning this 
Western land. 

He planned to hew out a bridle path from 
the Holston region to the Kentucky River. 
When he and his men went through the wilder- 
ness, they marked their trail by chipping off 
pieces of the bark from some of the tall trees. 
With their axes and hatchets they cut their 
way through the thick underbrush. It was 
slow and weary work. 

For twenty miles the way was through a 
country covered with dead brush. After this 
came thirty miles of thick reeds and cane- 
brakes. Mountains had to be cUmbed, and 
rivers had to be crossed. 

After several weeks Boone and his men 

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reached the open and fertile lands of Ken- 
tucky. 

Felix Walker was one of the men who made 
the Wilderness Road. He afterwards wrote 
about it. His first view of the open lands of 
Kentucky he describes as follows: 

''As the cane ceased, we began to discover 
the pleasing and rapturous appearance of the 
plains. A new sky and earth seemed to be 
presented to our view. So rich a soil we had 
never seen before, covered with clover in full 
bloom. The woods were abounding with 
wild game. Turkeys were so numerous that 
it might be said they appeared to be but 
one flock, universally scattered in the woods. 
It seemed that nature, in the profusion of her 
bounty, had spread a feast for all that hves, 
both for the animal and rational world. A 
sight so delightful to our view, and grateful to 
our feelings, almost inclined us, in imitation 
of Columbus, in transport to kiss the soil of 
Kentucky, even as Columbus hailed and 
saluted the sand when he first set foot on the 
shores of America." 

One night the pioneers camped within fifteen 
miles of the spot that Boone had chosen for 
a settlement. They were on the bank of a 

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little river called Silver Creek. They posted 
no guards, for they thought there was no 
danger. 

Just at daybreak they were roused from 
their sleep by rifle shots and fierce war cries. 
Several of the party were killed, and more 
were wounded. The others seized their rifles, 
got behind trees, and drove the savages away. 

On the same day they began the last part 
of their long journey to Big Lick, on the 
Kentucky River. They now found the road 
easy to make, for they were following a buffalo 
trail. 

On the first day of April, 1775, they began 
to build a huge fort. They named it Boones- 
borough, after their gallant leader. 

Three weeks later Henderson and his band 
of riflemen arrived at the Httle settlement. 
Their journey had been long and tiresome. 
It took them more than a month to travel over 
Boone's trail, which Henderson said was 
"either hilly, stony, slippery, miry, or bushy." 

In good earnest these pioneers went to work. 

Ill 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

They built thirty log cabins, protected by a 
log stockade. Early in September they turned 
out to greet Boone's wife and his daughter 
Jemima, 'Hhe first white women that ever 
stood on the banks of the Kentucky River." 

The Wilderness Road of Boone's time was 
not what we mean now by a road. It was 
not even a cart path. It was simply a trail 
for horses, or a path in which men, women, 
and children might go on foot. 

Famihes often banded together for safety 
in their journey through the deep woods. The 
older boys drove the cattle. The little chil- 
dren were packed in cradles of hickory twigs, 
hung across the backs of steady horses; often 
they rode on great rolls of bedding. As for 
the mothers, they tramped with their babies 
in their arms. When tired, they traveled on 
horseback. 

Some of the men, with their rifles on their 
shoulders, drove the pack horses; others 
went in front, or at the side, or in the rear, and 
watched for Indians. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

At night a rude camp gave shelter to the 
women and children. The men rolled them- 
selves in their blankets and slept on the open 
ground. 

In cold weather the rivers and mountains 
were impassable. Sometimes the settlers were 
delayed for many days. Sometimes they 
found no game for food and were forced to 
kill their cattle. 

When Boone and his men were cutting 
their path through the wilderness, they 
stopped to rest at a place in the mountains 
which is now called Cumberland Gap. A 
few years ago hundreds of people gathered 
at this picturesque spot to dedicate a monu- 
ment to the great leader of the pioneers. 
The monument was presented to the State of 
Kentucky. It was dedicated to the bravery, 
wisdom, and sturdy manhood of Daniel 
Boone, to whom our country is indebted for 
one of the great historic highways of the world. 

The Daughters of the American Revolution 
traced and marked the Wilderness Road for 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

its entire length of more than two hundred 
miles. The monument they erected is made 
of stone. It has four bronze tablets, repre- 
senting North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, 
and Kentucky, the four states through which 
the trail ran. 

Thus tribute has been paid to Daniel Boone, 
the greatest pioneer of the great West, who 
beheved, as he said, that he was ''an instru- 
ment ordained of God to settle the wilderness." 



114 



XVI 

EVERYDAY LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS 

WHEN a group of families moved from 
their homes in the East into the 
wilderness, they built first of all a 
fort, or station. It was a huge log fence, 
twelve feet or more in height. It was usually 
built in the form of a square and often covered 
an acre of ground. At the four corners were 
blockhouses . Sometimes a larger blockhouse 
was in the middle. Inside the square a num- 
ber of log cabins were built. In front there 
was a large, strong gate, which could be 
fastened with a heavy wooden crossbar. 

The stockade was well fitted for defense 

against the Indians. It served as a shelter 

to all who lived near. At the first sign of 

danger the settlers fled to it for safety. 

The cabins of the pioneers were built of 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

logs. The cracks between the logs were 

filled with clay and coarse dry grass. At one 

end of the living room there was a wide, deep 

fireplace, in which logs six feet long could be 

burned. The floor was made of great slabs 

of wood hewn smooth on one side. This was 

called a puncheon floor. 

As a popular song of that time says, 

''Oh, Jennie, my toes are sore 
Dancing on the puncheon floor." 

A window was made by cutting or sawing 
out a hole in the wall. The window panes 
were nothing but greased paper. The cabin 
door was strong and heavy, with a large cross- 
bar to hold it shut. Wooden pegs driven 
into the walls served to hang things on. 
Over the fireplace were the antlers of a deer, 
on which rested the faithful rifle. 

The beds were made of boards covered with 
bearskins and deerskins. The dining table 
was a great log smoothed on one side and set 
on four legs. Three-legged stools were used 
for chairs. For the table and the kitchen 

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I>IONEERS OF AMERICA 

there were pewter spoons, pewter basins, 
hand-made wooden platters, bowls and pails, 
and trenchers, wooden dippers, and tubs. 
Some of the cabins could boast of a rocking 
chair. 

A famous man, in speaking of his boyhood 
days in the wilderness, once said, ''The only 
chair found in our house for many years was 
my grandmother's old sphnt-bottom chair that 
she brought with her to the wilderness. It 
was too dearly prized to be left behind, for in 
it she had sung sweet lullabies to all her chil- 
dren, and rocked them to sleep." 

The land was covered with one great forest, 
up to the very doors of the lonely cabins. 
The first thing the pioneers did after building 
their log cabins was to cut down the trees and 
prepare the ground to plant corn. To raise 
corn was their first duty, for corn bread was 
the only kind they had. They burned a hole 
in the top of a block of wood, and in this hole 
the corn was pounded into meal with a heavy 
wooden pestle. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

When on their long hunting trips, or follow- 
ing the war trail, the backwoodsmen always 
carried some parched corn. 

After a time they cleared more land and 
then had horses, sheep, and cows. Besides 
corn they planted beans, potatoes, pumpkins, 
and other vegetables. In the woods they 
found berries, wild grapes, and nuts. From 
the sugar maples they got sap to make sugar. 
Often they found stores of wild honey in the 
trunks of hollow trees. For salt they were 
obliged to go through the deep woods to the 
distant hcks, or salt springs. 

Many of the early settlers were poor. The 
men, women, and children worked hard. For 
a long time they were content with coarse food, 
coarse clothing, and rude log cabins. 

In the hard winters they often suffered from 
cold and even from hunger. In summer they 
had much sickness, especially from ague. 
Their life was usually one long, hard struggle. 
They were always in danger from the Indians 
and from wild animals. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

An old pioneer said, ''I never had to go far 
to get a deer. One morning I shot a large 
buck from the doorstep. There were many 
wild turkeys. We often caught flocks of 
them in pens or traps. Bears, panthers, and 
wolves were numerous. Sometimes they were 
troublesome and dangerous. In the winter 
nights they would roam through the settle- 
ment, and we had to keep live stock housed. 
Bears became so hungry that they would come 
into the clearing after a stray pig or calf." 

There were so many crows that the early 
corn had to be watched. Squirrels and rab- 
bits often ate up the green stuff in the gardens. 
The settlers in their wrath used to unite in 
squirrel hunts and kill these pests by the 
thousands. In some places rattlesnakes, moc- 
casins, and copperheads were a common source 
of danger and death. 

The dress of the early settlers was almost 
like that of the Indians. The backwoodsmen 
sometimes mistook an Indian for a white man. 
The Indians in turn mistook the white man 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

for an Indian. For coats the pioneers wore 
hunting shirts of homespun cloth or buckskin, 
held in place by a belt at the waist, and fringed 
where it fell to the knees. From the belt 
hung a hunting knife and a hatchet or toma- 
hawk. On their heads they wore felt hats, or 
caps made of squirrel skin, with the bushy 
tail hanging down behind. The rifle was a 
part of the backwoodsmen's dress. They 
never left their cabins without it. They could 
shoot with wonderful skill. 

Besides doing the usual work on the clearing 
about the log cabins, the pioneer boys led a 
busy and useful life. They learned to imitate 
the calls and notes of birds and wild animals. 
Hidden in a thicket, or behind a log, they 
would call like a turkey, drawing whole flocks 
of these birds within reach of the rifle. When 
they barked like a squirrel, the tree tops would 
become alive with these Httle animals. In 
answer to their call packs of wolves, far away 
in the forest, would set up a howl. 

The boys on the frontier knew how to set 

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traps for wild animals; for in those days 
bullets and gunpowder must not be wasted. 
They were also trained in throwing the 
tomahawk and in shooting with bow and 

arrow. 

In those days the schoolhouse was a log 
cabin with a big fireplace. The boys and 
girls sat on rough slabs of wood with wooden 
legs. Pens were made of goose quills, which 
were cut into shape by the schoolmaster. The 
pupils often went to school barefoot, even 
when the weather was chilly. If they had 
shoes, they used to carry them in their hands 
and put them on at the schoolhouse door. 
Pupils paid for their tuition. If the father 
had no money, he paid the schoolmaster in 
poultry, corn, raccoon skins, and other useful 
things. 

In the pioneer days money was scarce. 
Trading was done by barter and exchange. 
The skin of a fox or raccoon was considered to 
be worth one shilHng. The skin of a beaver, 
otter, or deer was worth six shillings at the 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

village store. Men in public office were often 
paid in furs. 

When a bundle of furs was brought to the 
store for exchange, the trader did not always 
undo the bundle, but would count the tails. 
This practice gave the dishonest hunter an 
opportunity to cheat. He would fill the 
bundle with raccoon skins with the tails of 
otters fastened to them. 

The early settlers did not spend all their 
time in fighting Indians, hunting wild animals, 
and working hard on their farms. Both the old 
and the young spent many hours in harmless 
frolics. They would have parties for making 
sugar, gathering apples, or husking corn. At 
other times they had house raisings, house- 
warmings, and quilting parties. The young, 
and even the old, gathered from far and 
near to do the work, after which they had a 
hearty supper. On all such occasions there 
was much merrymaking,* playing games, and 
dancing by young and old. 

The most popular frolic of all was a wedding. 

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The guests gathered for many miles round. If 
there was a church near, the bride rode to the 
church on horseback, seated behind her father. 
After the ceremony she rode back seated 
behind her husband. Then came the wedding 
feast, with all the hospitality of the frontier 
people. This was followed by merrymaking 
and dancing, which was kept up till far into the 
night. 

In those early times there was need of seK- 
help and self-denial. Few pioneers were well- 
to-do; most of them were poor. They learned 
the great lesson of uniting to help one another. 
Kind neighbors gathered together and cheer- 
fully did what a single family could not do 
alone. 



123 



XVII 

BRAVE POLLY HOPKINS 

THERE is a little river in Kentucky 
called Dreaming Creek. We are told 
that it was so named because the 
famous Daniel Boone fell asleep one day on 
its bank and dreamed that he was stung by 
hornets. However this may be, many years 
ago a fort was built near the river. In a log 
cabin about two miles from the fort lived 
Amos Hopkins and his family. He had been 
a frontier soldier with the daring George 
Rogers Clark. 

The Hopkins family consisted of father, 
mother, and three children. The oldest child, 
Joseph, was a sturdy boy of fourteen. He 
could use a rifle nearly as well as his father. 
Polly, a lively girl of twelve, was nicknamed 
long-legged Polly, because she could run so 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

fast. Peter, the youngest child, was about 
six years old. 

It was a lovely day in June, a few years 
after the close of the Revolution. Mr. Hop- 
kins was away fighting the Indians. Mrs. 
Hopkins was busy about the house. The 
children were playing in the open space in 
front of the cabin. 

It was Polly's birthday. 

''Now, Joe," said Mrs. Hopkins, "you 
children may have your birthday party down 
by the river in your beech-tree house. Look 
sharp after little Peter, and see that he doesn't 
get hurt." 

''AU right, mother. I won't let him get 
lost or fall into the river." 

The big beech tree down by the river was 
well known to the children of the settlement. 
They often spent the afternoon there, playing 
in its shade. 

One day Polly Hopkins crept under a vine 
on the trunk of the old tree, and suddenly 
disappeared. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

^'Oh, Polly, where are you?" cried Joe. 

"Come quick, Joe, and see what I have 
found." 

So Joe crawled after his sister. He found 
himself inside the tree. 

''Oh, my," cried Polly, ''what a splendid 
place to play in on rainy days or to hide from 
the Indians!" 

They made a clean floor of oak leaves and 
pine needles, and used dry moss for seats. 

The old beech tree was just the place for 
Polly's birthday party. 

The three children hurried down the trail 
to the river. In the shade of the tree they ate 
their luncheon and played their games. After 
a time they crept into the hollow in the tree 
and told stories until about sunset. Little 
Peter grew tired and was put to sleep on a 
pile of dry moss. 

"Why, Polly," said Joe, "I forgot to bring 
my rifle. I will run back to the cabin and get 
it. There may be Indians prowling about 
after dark. Don't stir till I come back." 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Polly climbed up on a shelf that Joe had 
built and looked out of a hole in the tree. She 
watched Joe until he went through the open 
gate of the stockade. In a few minutes he 
and his mother ran out of the cabin and shut 
the big gate. 

Polly sat down beside Peter and waited. 
Still no Joe came back. 

''What can be the matter with him?" 
asked Polly. "Why did they shut the gate 
in such a hurry? Can there be Indians about? 
Dear me, I wish he would come. I'll take one 
more look." 

Before long she saw the bushes acr6ss the 
way gently moving. In another moment a 
tall Indian in war paint and feathers rose 
silently and came walking toward the old 
beech tree. After looking round the tree and 
peeping into the branches, he quietly ghded 
into the underbrush. 

Polly knew her danger. She stood on the 
shelf, still as a mouse. She hardly dared to 
draw a deep breath. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

She looked out once more. She now saw half 
a dozen savages creeping along the trail toward 
the cabin. 

Crack! sounded Joe's rifle, and a savage 
fell dead. 

The other Indians ran out with dry moss and 
made ready to throw hghted bundles of it on 
the roof of the cabin. 

Polly's heart began to beat faster. 

''There is just one thing to do. I must run 
to the fort and get Captain Zane and his men." 

With one httle sob, she looked at her brother 
quietly sleeping on the moss. Then she crept 
through the opening and into the underbrush 
until she found the trail to the fort. 

How many times she had outrun Joe in 
their games! She was frightened, but she 
darted away in the direction of the fort. 

It was dark now, and the trail was narrow. 
At any moment a lurking redskin might jump 
out of the underbrush. On, on she ran, as 
never before. It seemed hours, but it was 
only minutes. Once she was out of breath 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

and fell panting to the ground. It was only 
for a moment. She picked herself up and 
started on again. 

Just as she seemed ready to fall in a faint, 
she reached the fort, high up on the bank of 
the river. She was seen by the riflemen on 
guard when she ran toward the big oak 
gate. 

''Indians! Indians! The Hopkins cabin! 
Quick! quick!" she cried. 

The riflemen crowded round her to hear her 
story. 

''There is no time to spare," said Captain 
Zane to his men; "look well to your horses 
and rifles. We are in for a Hvely scrap with 
the redskins before sunrise." 

In a few minutes twenty sturdy Indian 
fighters were galloping down the trail as fast 
as their hardy little horses could carry them. 
Captain Zane had taken Polly up behind him. 

Mr. Hopkins had come back home while the 
children were at play in the old beech tree. 
Now he and Joe were making it lively for the 

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redskins, firing their rifles from the loopholes 
in the stockade. 

With shouts the riflemen fell on the savages. 
The Indians, leaving their dead and wounded 
behind them, fled into the woods. 

A few tubs of water put out the fire on the 
roof of the cabin. 

''Where is Peter?" asked Mrs. Hopkins. 

''Why, mother, I had almost forgotten 
him," answered Polly. "Come, Joe, let us 
run down to the old beech tree." 

They found the boy still asleep on the pile of 
moss. 

"I had a bad dream," said Peter. "I 
thought the Indians were chasing me and had 
grabbed me just as Joe and Polly found me." 

Captain Zane took the Hopkins family back 
to the fort. The Indians might come before 
sunrise with a larger band. There was a 
merry time the next day when Polly told the 
riflemen how fast she ran in the dark. 

Polly Hved to be more than ninety years 
old. On a rainy day her great-grandchildren 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

would tease her to tell them how she ran on 
that birthday night to save her family from 
the savages. 

Like most frontier women, she would not 
talk much about the danger of backwoods life 
in her girlhood. She would smile faintly and 
would gently tell them to be thankful that 
there were no longer cruel savages to kill and 
scalp people and set fire to their homes. 



131 



XVIII 

FIGHTING THE INDIANS 

FOR long years life on the frontier was 
full of danger. There are many stories 
of the heroic deeds, thrilHng escapes, 
and terrible sufferings of the pioneers. 

Just after the close of the Revolution two 
or three famihes were Uving together on a 
branch of the Kentucky River. It was a hot 
day in early summer. Two men and a 
woman were sitting at the door of a log 
cabin. 

Children playing on the bank of the river 
came rushing home, screaming, ''Oh, mother, 
mother! Indians! Indians! The Indians are 
in the woods." 

One of the men jumped up and tried to 
shut the cabin door. It was too late. He 
was shot and fell dead in the doorway. An- 

132 



PIONEEKS OF AMERICA 

other Indian rushed up and seized the other 
man before he could fire his rifle. 

'^Hand me my knife, quick, Mrs. Wetzell," 
cried the man. 

This frontier mother was a fearless and 
strong woman. She snatched up an ax and 
killed the savage on the spot. 

A third Indian now ran to the doorway and 
killed the other pioneer. Quick as a flash, 
Mrs. Wetzell turned on him and killed him 
with one blow of her ax. 

Other Indians now came to help their com- 
rade. With her ever ready ax the frontier 
woman killed the foremost savage. The 
other Indians stepped back, and she shut the 
cabin door. 

This was too lively fighting even for savages. 
They fled to the woods, but not until they 
had killed the children. 

Another story is about a family named 
Merrill, who lived on the Ohio frontier. One 
night the Indians attacked their log cabin. 
Mr. Merrill stood in the doorway and fired at 

133 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

the savages. He was shot several times, and 
fell, after calUng on his wife to shut the cabin 
door. 

An Indian broke a hole in the door with his 
tomahawk and began to crawl through. Mrs. 
Merrill sized an ax and killed three savages 
one after the other, as they tried to make their 
way in. 

The Indians did not hke this kind of fight- 
ing. So two of them chmbed up on the roof 
of the cabin and got ready to drop down the 
wide chimney. 

Mrs. Merrill seized her feather bed, cut it 
open, and threw it on the coals. The two 
Indians came tumbling down through the 
stifling smoke. The fearless woman killed 
both of them before they could catch their 
breath. The rest of the savages now gave up 
the attack and took to the woods. 

Once there were two Uttle frontier sisters, 
Maggie and Jennie Campbell, who went to 
drive the cows home for their father. 

"Now, Jennie," said Maggie, the older girl, 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

''you sit down beside this big tree while I go 
after Old Whiteface." 

Jennie did as she was told. 

Maggie searched for the cow, but could not 
find her. She ran back to her sister, but her 
sister was gone. 

Jennie had heard the cow bell. Following 
the sound, she made her way back to the 
cabin. 

Poor Maggie started for home, missed the 
trail, and was soon lost in the woods. 

Night came on. The half-crazed father 
ran to the little log-house village for help. A 
dozen sturdy backwoodsmen turned out 
with guns, bells, and torches to look for the 
lost girl. 

All that night and all the next day they kept 
up the search. They had help from a neigh- 
boring settlement. As the story goes, several 
hundred men and boys scoured the woods. At 
the end of two weeks, they came across a 
little hut built of limbs, such as children make 
in their play. There was a bed of leaves 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

inside the rude shelter. A tiny path led from 
the hut to a blackberry patch. 

A boy in the searching party found the girl's 
bonnet a mile or so from the hut. Not far 
away were signs of a recent Indian camp. 
The poor girl was never found. Whether 
she was carried off by the Indians, or died 
from hunger and exposure, was never known. 
The father never gave up searching among 
the Indians for his lost daughter. 

Did you ever hear the story of the two 
Johnson boys, and of their escape from the 
Indians? 

One afternoon late in the autumn the boys 
went into the woods in search of a hat they 
had lost the day before. They found the hat 
about a mile from home. Then they sat down 
at the foot of a hickory tree and cracked 
nuts. 

Suddenly two Delaware Indians ran out of 
the underbrush, seized the boys, and carried 
them farther into the woods. The Indians 
could speak a little English. They promised 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

the boys not to hurt them if they would not 
try to run away. 

Little Henry was afraid. John whispered 
to him not to cry, and to say nothing. 

The older brother now began to make 
friends with the Indians. He told them how 
glad he was to be captured, because his father 
had ill-treated him at home. He said that he 
had always wanted to hve with the Indians. 

The savages beheved that he was telHng the 
truth. 

When it grew dark, the Indians made a 
camp, built a fire, and prepared a supper of 
parched corn and deer meat. They shared 
their supper with the two hungry lads. They 
put their rifles and tomahawks against a tree 
and then lay down to sleep, with the boys 
between them. After a time one of the In- 
dians went and lay down on the other side of 
the camp fire. He was soon snoring. 

There was not a wink of sleep for the two 
young prisoners. John quietly got up, putting 
his finger on his lips as a signal for Henry to 

137 



\ 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

keep still. He cocked one of the rifles and 
pointed it at one of the Indians. 

''Hold this gun, Henry," he whispered to 
his brother, ''and pull the trigger when I 
raise my hand." 

Henry was only ten years old, but, like other 
pioneer boys, he was not afraid to fire a 
gun. 

John gave the signal. 

Bang! went the rifle, and the sleeping savage 
was dead. John struck the other Indian with 
a tomahawk. 

Guided by the stars, the two boys hurried 
through the darkness toward their home. 
After a time they struck a trail which they 
knew. John hung his hat on a tree beside 
the trail to mark the spot. Early the next 
forenoon the two boys reached home in 
safety. 

They were the heroes of the little settle- 
ment. Even their father and mother could 
hardly believe their story. The idea that 
two young boys could kill two Indian warriors 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

seemed untrue. But the next day some of 
the riflemen followed the trail and found the 
bodies of the two dead Indians. 

There is a story of a brave boy who saved 
four children from capture. 

A man by the name of Silas Miller lived in 
a settlement on the frontier in Ohio. 

Late one autumn Mr. Miller's three Uttle 
girls, EUza, Nancy, and Martha, with their 
brother Samuel, went into the woods after 
nuts. About a mile from home they found a 
grove of hickory trees. The ground was 
almost covered with the white nuts. 

Sam ran back home to get a bag. 

While the girls were busy picking up nuts, 
an Indian stepped from behind a tree and 
seized the two youngest of them. In broken 
English he told them to sit down and sit 
still. He then hurried after their sister. 

Eliza, only twelve years old, was running 
like a deer toward home, screaming at the top 
of her voice. 

Meanwhile Sam had reached the fort. 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

''Come with me, Joe," he said to his friend, 
"and help me to bring home a bag of nuts." 

''All right; I'll go. I will take my rifle 
along, for we might meet a redskin." 

The two boys took a short cut through the 
woods. Suddenly they heard Eliza screaming. 

"Hurry up, Sam. They have captured 
Martha and Nancy." 

In another moment Eliza came running 
toward them, chased by an Indian with up- 
lifted tomahawk. 

She tripped and fell. The redskin stood 
for a moment over the girl as if to strike her. 

Joe kept cool. He must be sure. If he 
missed the Indian, he would be killed before 
he could load his rifle again. He took careful 
aim and fired. The Indian fell dead. 

Joe reloaded his rifle. Other Indians might 
be near. Then the two boys pulled the body 
of the big warrior from the fallen girl, who was 
nearly dead with fright. 

"Now, Joe," said Sam, "we must find 
Nancy and Martha. Let us shout, for they 

140 




An older brother raised his rifle and shot the Indian. 

Page 141. 



PIONEERS OF AMIERCA 

will know our voices. They are probably 
hiding in the underbrush." 

"All right, Sam." 

The young fellows shouted again and again. 
After a time a faint reply came from the 
woods. In a few minutes Nancy and Martha 
came running to them. 

With glad hearts they started for home. 

Some of the men from the fort came out 
when they heard the report of the rifle. They 
all went to see the dead Indian. Joe took 
the Indian's scalping knife, and Sam his toma- 
hawk, as souvenirs of their adventure. 



141 



XIX 

Lincoln's boyhood on the frontier 

TOWARD the end of the Revolution a 
family by the name of Lincoln settled 
in Kentucky. One morning some In- 
dians attacked the men in the field. The 
father was killed, and a child six years old was 
about to be carried away by one of the savages. 
An older brother raised his rifle and shot the 
Indian. The other savages ran into the woods. 
The child's name was Thomas. He grew 
up and became the father of Abraham Lincoln. 
In a poor log cabin, of only one room, 
Abraham Lincoln was born on the twelfth day 
of February, 1809. A granite rock now 
marks the spot of his birthplace. He was 
named Abraham after his grandfather, who 
was killed by the Indians, and who had been 
a friend of Daniel Boone. 

142 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Thomas Lincoln was poor. He was one 
of the restless pioneers who was always wish- 
ing to pack up and move to another place. 
The little backwoods boy was only seven 
years old when with his father, mother, and 
sister Sarah he left Kentucky for a new home 
in southern Indiana. 

It was only a matter of forty miles, but it 
took them a week to make the trip. They did 
not carry much with them; for they had Httle 
worth taking. They borrowed two horses 
and strapped on their backs a few cooking 
utensils and some bedding. For most of the 
journey they had no road of any kind. 
Often they cut their way through the thick 
woods. 

There was plenty of game. The father 
with his rifle suppHed the family with food. 
At night he made a rude camp and heaped up 
the fallen leaves for a bed. 

One cold day in November the pioneer family 
reached the new home. It took only a few. 
days to make a clearing in the woods and 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

build what the Western settlers called a half- 
faced camp. This was a rude sort of shelter 
made of logs and Hmbs of trees. The cracks 
between the logs were filled with clay and dry 
leaves. 

The camp had only three sides. The fourth 
side was left open to the weather. There was 
no chimney, and the fire had to be built 
before the open side of the camp. A bearskin 
was hung from the pole of the roof. This 
served as a kind of door to keep out the snow 
and rain. The family bed was a pile of dry 
leaves at one end of the rude camp. 

In this poor shelter the Lincoln family man- 
aged to keep alive all that first winter. Mr. 
Lincoln kept busy cutting down trees and 
clearing the ground to plant corn. Wild 
turkeys and squirrels supplied food. The 
winter was hard, with biting cold winds and 
snowstorms. It must have been a cheerless 
time for that pioneer mother with her two 
young children. Not one of the family had 
a pair of shoes. Home-made moccasins were 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

the only protection from the sleet and 
snow. 

Before the next winter Mr. Lincoln built 
a rough cabin eighteen feet square, of unhewn 
logs. This time there was a real chimney, so 
that a fire might be built inside. For a year 
or two there was no window or door. Above 
the one room of the cabin was a sort of loft. 
This was the young boy's bedroom. In one 
corner he had a bag of dry leaves for a bed. 
To get to his bedroom he had to climb up on 
wooden pegs driven into the logs. 

The family lived in this crude cabin until 
they moved to IlUnois, when Abe was twenty- 
one years old. 

In the late autumn of the second year in 
Indiana the young lad met with the first great 
sorrow of his life. His good mother, worn out 
with the hardships and exposure of frontier 
Ufe, became sick and died. 

Just before her death she said to her son, 
''My boy, I am going av/ay, and you will never 
see me again. Be good. I know you will. 

145 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

Help your father. Take good care of your 
sister. Live as I have taught you, and love 
God always." 

Many years after, Lincoln said, "All that 
I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel 
mother." 

A year or more after this sad event the 
father married again. He brought home to 
the log cabin his second wife, a widow with 
three children. She became a devoted mother 
to the motherless lad. 

She had been used to better things than she 
found in her new home. She now did what 
she could to make things more comfortable. 
She coaxed her husband to make a door, with 
wooden hinges, in place of the bearskin. 
He hewed slabs for a floor and cut out a 
window. 

To do her part, she brought from her Ken- 
tucky home a few chairs, a feather bed, a 
bureau, and a wooden chest filled with cloth- 
ing. She now had Abe and his sister put off 
their ragged clothes, and dressed them in such 

146 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

warm homespun garments that they hardly 
knew themselves. 

There were no idle hands in that frontier 
cabin when the new mother took charge. 
Each had his share of work. The children 
cut brushwood for the fire, and brought water 
from a spring a mile away. These were in- 
deed ''pinching times," as Lincoln said many 
years afterward. 

When Abe was only ten years old, he could 
chop wood for the big fireplace. He could 
thresh wheat with a flail. He could clear a 
field for planting corn. 

With all his hard work the boy did not have 
much of a chance to study. He went to school 
for a short time in the winter, when there 
was little or no work at home. School began 
at sunrise and was dismissed at sunset. Read- 
ing, spelling, and ciphering were the only 
branches taught. Young Abe's entire school- 
ing amounted to about four months. He 
went to school ''by littles," as he once said. 
The last school that he went to was five miles 

147 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

from home. He got to it by following a deer 
trail. 

As Abraham Lincoln grew older, he became 
more and more determined to improve himself. 
The first books that he had were the Bible, 
^sop's Fables, and The Pilgrim's Progress. 
These books he read and reread until they 
became a part of himself. Robinson Crusoe 
was also one of his favorite books. His eager- 
ness for study and the reading of good books 
burned like a fire in his breast. Whenever 
he heard of a book anywhere, he would go 
miles to borrow it. He tramped barefooted 
twelve miles for a book containing the laws 
of Indiana. 

He once said to a friend, "I have read all 
the books I have ever heard of in the country 
for a circuit of fifty miles." 

His stepmother once said of him, ''Abe 
read everything he could lay his hands on, 
and when he came across a passage that im- 
pressed him, he would write it down on a 
board, if he had no paper, and keep it till he 

148 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

could get paper. Then he would copy it, 
commit it to memory, and repeat it." 

''When Abe and I returned to the house 
from work," his stepbrother said, ''he would 
go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn 
bread, take a book, sit down, put his feet up 
as high as his head, and read. When night 
came, he would find a seat in the corner by the 
fireside, or stretch out at length on the floor. 
He would write or work sums in arithmetic 
in the sand on the floor, or on a wooden shovel, 
using a charred stick for a pencil. When he 
had covered the shovel, he would scrape off 
the surface and begin again." 

A settler named Crawford lent him Weems's 
Life of Washington. Abe read the book by 
the blazing fire until midnight. For safe- 
keeping he carried the book to his bedroom 
in the loft and laid it in a crack between the 
logs. Rain fell in the night and ruined it. 

After breakfast the boy carried the book 
back to Mr. Crawford and told him what 
had happened. 

149 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

"I am sorry," he said, "and am willing to 
do anything that I can to make it right with 
you." 

''The book is worth about seventy-five 
cents," said Mr. Crawford. '' If you will work 
for me for three days, you may have the 
book for your own." 

"Do you mean that the three days' work 
will pay you for the book," asked the boy, 
"or will it only pay for the harm done to it?" 

"I mean that you may have the book," 
said Mr. Crawford. 

And so, for three days, the boy husked corn 
and stripped fodder, and then he proudly 
carried the book home again. It was his own, 
the first thing he had ever bought directly 
with his own labor. He read the book over 
and over again. 

When Lincoln was sixteen years old, he was 
tall, slim, and awkward, with long arms and 
long legs. He had grown rapidly, but his 
work had made his muscles firm and hard. 
Although he read and studied late at night, 

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PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

he easily surpassed his friends in the rough 
sports of the time. 

In winter he wore a cap of coonskin, with the 
tail hanging down behind. His hunting shirt, 
trousers, and moccasins were made of deer- 
skin. In summer he wore a shirt made of 
linsey-woolsey, a mixture of wool and linen. 
As for stockings, he said that he went bare- 
foot about half the year until he was a young 
man. 

At the age of nineteen Lincoln had reached 
his full height. He stood six feet four inches 
in his bare feet. Few men of his time could 
equal him in strength. But the young giant 
was good-natured and tender-hearted. 

'^I can say," said his stepmother, 'Svhat 
scarcely one mother in a thousand can say, 
that he never gave me a cross word or look, 
and never refused to do anything I asked 
him." 

Just before the Civil War ^^ Honest Abe, 
the rail splitter of Illinois," was chosen the . 
sixteenth president of the United States. He 

151 



PIONEERS OF AMERICA 

was a wise and patient leader during the long 
years of the terrible war. In 1865 he was 
killed by the bullet of an assassin and was 
mourned by all the nation. 

When you are older, you will find it interest- 
ing to read how Abraham Lincoln rose to fame 
and honor and became perhaps the greatest 
man of his century. 



152 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES 



Abe, ab 

Abraham, a'bra-ham 
^sop, e'sop 
Albany, ol'ba-ny 
Alexander, &l-eg-zan' der 
Allegheny, dl'e-ga-ny 

B 

Bennington, hen'ing-tun 
Bei'kshire, burk'sMr 
Boone, boon 

Boonesborough, boons'bur-o 
Braddock, brad'uk 
Britain, brit"n 
Brodhead, brdd'hed 
Burgoyne, bur-goin' 



Callaway, k&l'a-way 
Cambridge, kdm'brij 
Campbell, kam'bel 
Canada, kan'a-da 
Canadian, ka-na'di-an 
CaroUna, kar-o-li'na 
Champlain, sham-plan' 
Charleston, charlz'tun 
Cherokee, cMr-o-kee' 
Craig, krag 
Creole, kre'ol 
Crusoe, kroo'so 
Cumberland, kum'ber-lavd 



Delaware, del'a-wdr 
Detroit, de-troit' 

£ 

Ebenezer, eb-en-e'zer 
Eliza, e-li'za 
England, ing' gland 



Gansevoort, gans'voort 
Georgia, jor'jl-a 
Girty, gur'ty 
Gladwyn, glad'win 

H 

Hampshire, hamp'shtr 
Harmar, har'mar 
Herkimer, hur'kl-mer 
Hessian, hesh'an 
Holston, hol'stun 
Howe, how 



Illinois, il-i-noi' 
Indian, in'dl-an 
Indiana, in-dl-an'a 



Jemima, je-mi'ma 
Joseph, jo'sef 



153 



PRONUNCIATION OF PROPER NAMES 



Kaskaskia, kas-kas'Jd-a 
Kentucky, ken-tuk'y 



Langdon, lan-g'dun 

La Salle, Id sal' (a as in ask) 

Leger, lej'er 

Lincoln, ling'kun 

Louis, loo'is 

Louisiana, loo-c-ze-an' a 

Luisville, loo'is-vil 

M 

Mackinaw, mak'i-naw 

Marie Antoinette, ma'ry an- 

tai-net' 
Marietta, ma-rt-et'a 
Maryland, mer'l-land 
Massachusetts, mas-a-chu' sets 
McKee, ma-kee' 
McCulloch, ma-kul'uk 
Mississippi, mis-l-sip' i 
Missouri, mi-soo'rl 
Mohawk, mo'hok 
Montcalm, mont-kam' (a as in 

arm) 
Montreal, mont-re-ol' 
Muskingum, mus-king' gum 



Ogle, o'gl 

Ojibway, o-jih'ioay 
Ontario, on-ta'n-o 
Oriskany, o-Hs'ka-ny 
Ottawa, ot'a-wah 



Pawnee, paw-nee' 
Pennsylvania, pen-sil-va' /li-a 
Philadelphia, fil-a-del'fi-a 
Pontiac, pon'il-ak 



'J 



Quebec, kwe-bek 



Samuel, sam'u-el 
Sandusky, san-dxis'ky 
Shawnee, shaw-nee' 
Stanwix, stan'wiks 
Sycamore, sik'a-mor 



Tecumseh, te-kum'sS 
Tennessee, ten-e-see 
Thames, term 



Van Buren, van bu'ren 
Vermont, vur-tmjnt 
Vincennes, vin-senz' 
Virginia, vur-jin'l-a 

W 

Watauga, wa-tah'ga 
Wetzell, wet'zel 
Willett, wil'et 
Wolfe, wolf 



Zane, zan 
Zanesville, zdnz'vU 



154 



